Blizzard!

Blizzard tells the story of the snow storm that hit the east coast in March of 1888, and how the devastating power of that storm killed hundreds of people and brought more than one large city to a complete standstill.

Murphy does a wonderful job of weaving facts, first-hand accounts and touching

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moments into this story. He tells not only the stories of the survivors, but also of those who died tragically, with compassion and attention to detail. He follows a small number of individuals throughout the story of the storm, and then follows up by telling how the storm pushed lawmakers to make very important changes in the ways the cities were run - this storm, for instance, was responsible for reforming the way electrical lines were strung (no more above ground), how many individuals a city employed for clean-up (thousands were hired for garbage and snow shoveling), and the subway, which before this had been a dream of one man who'd been unable to get enough support to make it a reality, suddenly had overwhelming support from all the voters who had been stranded on above ground transit during the storm.

Fascinating - recommended.

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Kearsten says: Blizzard tells the story of the snow storm that hit the east coast in March of 1888, and how the devastating power of that storm killed hundreds of people and brought more than one large city to a complete standstill.

Murphy does a wonderful job of weaving facts, first-hand accounts

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and touching moments into this story. He tells not only the stories of the survivors, but also of those who died tragically, with compassion and attention to detail. He follows a small number of individuals throughout the story of the storm, and then follows up by telling how the storm pushed lawmakers to make very important changes in the ways the cities were run - this storm, for instance, was responsible for reforming the way electrical lines were strung (no more above ground), how many individuals a city employed for clean-up (thousands were hired for garbage and snow shoveling), and the subway, which before this had been a dream of one man who'd been unable to get enough support to make it a reality, suddenly had overwhelming support from all the voters who had been stranded on above ground transit during the storm.

Fascinating - recommended.

Show Less

Kearsten says: Blizzard tells the story of a snow storm that hit the east coast in March of 1888, and how the devastating power of that storm killed hundreds of people and brought more than one large city to a complete standstill.

Murphy does a wonderful job of weaving facts, first-hand accounts and

Show More

touching moments into this story. He tells not only the stories of the survivors, but also of those who died tragically, with compassion and attention to detail. He follows a small number of individuals throughout the story of the storm, and then follows up by telling how the storm pushed lawmakers to make very important changes in the ways the cities were run - this storm, for instance, was responsible for reforming the way electrical lines were strung (no more above ground), how many individuals a city employed for clean-up (thousands were hired for garbage and snow shoveling), and the subway, which before this had been a dream of one man who'd been unable to get enough support to make it a reality, suddenly had overwhelming support from all the voters who had been stranded on above-ground transit during the storm.

Fascinating - recommended.

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Murphy, Jim. (2000) Bilzzard! New York: Scholastic Press.

This book details the events of the great blizzard that occurred on March 12, 1888 through out the eastern coast of the United States. It has details from the beginning of the blizzard and first hand accounts from people that experienced it.

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It is very detailed facts and has many photographs and maps from that time of different parts of cities that were affected. It was written by Jim Murphy who is well known for having written an award winning book on the great fire of San Francisco. This book would be geared towards an upper elementary school student.

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Library Thing Part E Specialized Book
Murphy, Jim. Blizzard!: the Storm That Changed America. New York: Scholastic, 2001. Print.

Jim Murphy’s Blizzard the Storm that Changed America, was written in 2000 and still remains a fascinating account for elementary and middle school students. High school

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students and adults would enjoy his suspenseful mystery book style and profit from this well researched account of the March 11-13th 1888 snow blizzard that ravaged the east coast and devastated New York City. The city as the entire east coast was taken unaware an ill prepared to keep communication and transportation continuous. Telegraph and electrical lines were all above ground and one pole may have had 200 lines connected to it and this multiplied by the thousands of poles throughout the city, truly added to the crisis. The heavy, harsh whipping winds and ice knocked down lines and poles mercilessly. The immense snow drifts and freezing winds disabled trains on tracks and ferries were shattered by waves. Horses pulling wagons were frozen or unable to plow through huge tons of snow that quickly fell all over the city and its streets. Murphy’s account allows us to see how the city finally mobilized itself to clear streets and allow transportation into and through the city. Luckily the city had a large population of new Italian immigrants available to shovel snow. 17,000 were hired at .25 an hour to begin clearing streets. As Murphy tells us in his concluding chapter, these men would be permanently hired and become the first city workers to clean streets, pick up garbage, and remove snow. This led to other cities throughout the nation following suit and recognizing a cities responsibilities to its citizens and creating permanent city crews and departments.

The reader is taken to various other scenes and given details about city life in 1888 such as no garbage or littering laws existed. Tenement low income housing was dilapidated buildings that were erected for stables when George Washington was in office. Four families to an area or floor with only one sink with running water, was available, and outhouses were set up in the back of the tenement building for tenants. Flying debris from garbage, broken glass, store signs, coal, and horse manure became deadly weapons as the wind tore through the city at 50 to 70 miles per hour for almost 3 days and temperatures fell to 8 degrees Fahrenheit within a matter of hours.

Jim Murphy’s factual accounts taken from newspapers, New York Historical Society, the Society of Blizzard Men and Ladies of 1888, and several non fiction novels that were written about New York and the blizzard are all woven with his expert author’s license, recreating the crisis, tragedy and ramifications after the storm. Interesting facts that a 21st reader would find curious and help the reader to closely identify with the 1888 setting are: school age children sent on errands, older children left to babysit, students walking to and from school, women’s clothing items, P.T. Barnum’s 86 acts that his circus performed at Madison Square Garden during the storm, the living conditions of the homeless and the needed .3 cents to sleep on a chair or in the corner in a crowded flophouse, a cheap but popular dish .5 cents pig snouts and cabbage served at the many pubs. The city had a plethora of pubs that were always full and offered some protection during the blizzard.

This title definitely has accuracy and authenticity. The author devotes 8 pages at the end of the book that gives notes on sources and provides related reading material. The style is full of vivid language and creates definite reader involvement through his suspenseful stories that conclude in the following chapters. Organization is clearly and logically presented. He has a table of contents and a complete index. Illustrations are from historical drawings and photographs. They are both generously dispersed throughout the title and they greatly clarify and extend the descriptions in the text. I liked the title and would include several copies in a school library. Intended audience is 4th grade to 9th grade + and curriculum connection is social studies, science, language arts and economics.

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This is a nonfiction account of the blizzard of March 1888, which affected pretty much the entire East Coast from North Carolina to Maine. Murphy chooses several individuals in a variety of locations (but most in New York City) to illustrate the ways in which the storm affected people's lives. I

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enjoyed the book, although I would have liked a bit more development of the "storm that changed America" bit. It's there, but sort of tucked in at the end like an afterthought.

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Middle-school level. A good overview of what happened to the people in the 1888 blizzard that hit the northeast--not a lot on the storm and not much information outside of NYC (which the author addresses in a note, saying that most of the written accounts came out of NYC and thus it's where the

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focus of his book was). I can see this grabbing middle-school boys, especially since we're currently in the middle of a winter very much like the one that this storm came out of (mild weather & little snow). So that right there could be my booktalk hook.

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It had been an unusually winter, so mild that Longfellow,
enjoying the warm sunshine, had just penned a poem
about dandelions. Two unusual weather patterns were about to combine and bring the East Coast to a standstill. For three days, beginning on March 12, 1888, one of the greatest blizzards in

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recorded American history was about
to paralyze everything.

Murphy, a Newberry Award winner, has combined the personal accounts of several individuals of different ages and social positions to bring a sense of "being there" to his account.
What made the storm even more unusual was that after having pounded the Northeast, the storm reversed course and plastered the same area again. Snow removal became impossible; trains became stuck for days, and soon
food was in short supply, prices rising commensurately
with demand. Shoveling was impossible, and soon tunnels needed to be dug to get anywhere. Sleighs could be seen moving down the street at a level with second-story windows.
Different ethnic and class groups fared differently.
Some needed money so badly and working conditions were so demanding that they walked miles in the blizzard, risking life and limb, to get to work.

There were spectacular feats of bravery and extraordinary examples of stupidity. After the storm, huge cakes of ice had formed on the river, and some bright little fellow got the idea of using a ladder to bridge the distance from shore to one of the large ice floes. He demonstrated how safe the
ice was and soon was making a mint by charging for the use of his ladder. Everything went well, with several hundred people gathering on the huge piece of ice, until the tide turned and the ice began to break up into small floes and float out to sea. Many managed to scramble ashore, but, sure enough, some refused to leave at the first signs of breakup, and they became stranded on increasingly small pieces. Finally, only one man, dressed quite nattily, remained stranded until a tug pushed its way through the ice to rescue him. The blizzard of 1888 killed some 800 people, and this does not include those who died from heart attacks or ancillary causes. The storm
changed the way the government viewed snow.

The economic hardship and losses were so substantial
that cities realized they could no longer afford to ignore snow removal. Even though 17,000 shovelers had been hired to clear streets, the task was haphazard at best. Electric lines were another problem. They had been strung on overhead poles
by numerous private utilities. Visions of live wires
snapping on mounds of snow and an electrocuted lineman hanging from a wire with blue flames coming from his mouth left indelible impressions on both citizens and politicians. Soon laws were passed requiring that wires be moved underground.

The Signal Corps, which had previously been given responsibility for weather reports, had its mandate given to a new agency, the Weather Bureau, which was also charged with
learning about what causes storms in order to better predict them. It remained a difficult task. A hurricane in Texas killed 6,000 several years later, despite predictions. Nature -- or God if you prefer to believe She actually pays attention to such things -- remains impossible to predict with complete accuracy. Storms, like life, remain
random and mysterious.

This is wonderful narrative history, seen through the eyes of numerous individuals. One gets a real sense for the ambiance of the time.

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This is a juvenile nonfiction book about the blizzard of 1888 that hit the East coast of the USA. Two storms met up and hit New York. The National Weather Service said that the storm coming from Minnesota was weakening and the one from the south would likely go out to see and then they went home

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for the weekend. What they learned from this storm changed America's transportation system, weather system and snow removal among other things. It was not the worst storm but it had a great effect. This was written for probably middle school aged children. I listened to the audio because it was available through overdrive. It was easy to follow, read by Taylor Mali who did a good job.

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RGG: Account of the 1888 Blizzard is a fun, exciting read. The final chapter with the lasting changes due to the effects of the blizzard makes this more than just a good adventure story. Reading Level: 10-14; FP: U-W.

... that changed America." ?�Well, here in Carson City NV we still don't get snowplows on the residential streets. ?áAnd many cities still don't have subways, notably Minneapolis & St. Paul, which get plenty of snow. ?áBut Boss Tweed lost the fight to avoid building an underground transit

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after this storm. ?áI'd hoped, while reading of all the horrors, all the frozen people, that another "change" would be to find ways to better shelter the poor of NYC, but apparently the time wasn't ripe for that reform.

Anyway, terrific book for all ages about 8 and up. ?áLots of material, but lots of primary document illustrations, too. ?áEngaging writing. ?áIncludes personal author's note, annotated bibliography, and index. ?áEvery school library should have a copy, because everybody needs to learn that Mother Nature will have her way, and we still can't predict her whims, much less control her."

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Short book that tells the history of a severe blizzard that hit the Northeastern US in March, 1888. Though the storm covered many states, from Virginia to Maine, the story is focused on the area around New York City. It contains stories of individuals who miraculously survived and many who did not.

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Back then, weather forecasting was still pretty primitive, and telegraph communications were easily disrupted. Near the end, the author recounts some of the improvements that were made in disaster planning as a result. It provides enough historic details to give readers a good idea about how people lived in those days and how different it is from today.

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Good account of a Blizzard near my hometown that I knew nothing about.
Apparently, drawings were heavily used in the newspapers at the time - I didn't know that. Interesting that there were photos of the Blizzard too.
Of course, forecasting was in its infancy & the weatherman of the day were looking

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at a scientific approach, where the farmers and seamen would have been a whole lot more knowledgeable, if the forecasters would have listened.

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