Available:*
Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Guyandotte Public Library | 741.5 JON | Adult | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Award-winning comics author Aimée de Jongh 's graphic novel Days of Sand is a moving and unforgettable tale, inspired by real-life stories of courage and perseverance during the Dust Bowl of 1930s America.
United States, 1937. In the middle of the Great Depression, 22-year-old photographer John Clark is brought in by the Farm Security Administration to document the calamitous conditions of the Dust Bowl in the Midwest and the South in order to bring the farmers' plight to the public eye.
When he starts working through his shooting script, however, he finds his subjects to be unreceptive. What good are a couple of photos against relentless and deadly dust storms? The more he shoots, the more John discovers the awful extent of their struggles and comes to question his own role and responsibilities in this tragedy sweeping through the center of the country.
"Achingly bittersweet . . . de Jongh's artwork is glorious, and the book is full of historical touchpoints and photos that tie the fictionalized story to real events." -- Forbes
Author Notes
Aimée de Jongh is an award-winning comics author and animator from the Netherlands. She studied animation in Rotterdam, Ghent, and Paris. After graduating, she was asked to create a daily comic series for a Dutch national newspaper. This marked the start of a successful international career. The Return of the Honey Buzzard , her first graphic novel, won the Prix Saint-Michel for best Dutch-language comic and was made into a film in 2017. Her following books, Blossoms in Autumn and Taxi! , were translated worldwide and won awards in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Japan. De Jongh also worked as a graphic journalist in the refugee camps in Greece. Her interest in travel, ecology, and journalism has resulted in the historical graphic novel Days of Sand , her biggest project to date. When she's not drawing comics, de Jongh works in animation as a storyboard artist and director.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Dutch cartoonist De Jongh offers an unusual take on a uniquely American disaster--the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The narrative follows a young photographer named John Clark, who has been hired by a federal agency to photograph the ecological disaster in Oklahoma. There's an element of propaganda, as Clark has an itinerary provided; he's expected to document "orphaned children" and encouraged to stage photos. After initial difficulties getting subjects to agree to be photographed, Clark befriends a few locals, including a young boy who shows signs of dust-induced illness, and a pregnant widow whose story swiftly turns even more tragic. As Clark's admiration for these good, quietly suffering country folk grows, however, so too does the narrative's reliance on cliché. "Could I ever go back to the wailing sirens and traffic jams of New York? A city ruled by money and violence.... Whereas here, what counted was family and health." De Jongh's drawings are lovely: she evokes a palpable sense of place with desiccated landscapes, smothering sands, and dirt-caked faces. But the narrative concludes on a series of operatic scenes that are convincing in the moment, thanks to de Jongh's power as an artist, but are also so perfunctory they feel unearned. It's overwrought, but beautifully drawn. (Apr.)
Booklist Review
Oklahoma is in the thick of the Dust Bowl, and John Clark, a New York City--based photographer, has been hired by the government to document the residents and their lives in no-man's-land. The drought and overfarming have depleted the resources, leaving many fleeing the area or becoming ill or dying from inhaling the fine dust. John becomes acquainted with the residents and learns to see them beyond their artistic value. While the story is fictional, the premise behind John's trip is factual. Readers will be sympathetic to the residents, as they are always portrayed with dignity. This is also felt through the illustrations; while much of the coloring reflects the yellows and browns of life in the Dust Bowl, it is by no means muted and emphasizes the full, dynamic lives of the residents. Actual photographs are shown throughout, and much of the story behind the pictures taken by John are seen in those photographs. Readers will be moved by this artful graphic novel that raises powerful questions about the relationship between documentarians and their subjects.
