Out of the Storm

by Patricia Willis

In 1946, a year after Mandy's father died in World War II, Mandy, her mother, and her younger brother Ira move in with stern Aunt Bess on her northern Ohio sheep farm. Desperate to hold on to the memory of her father, Mandy dreams of returning to the house he planned to purchase. But she gets involved in school activities and tending the sheep, and when the spring floods come, must decide whether to save the sheep-committing to her new life-or cling to her dream and let the ewes and their newborn lambs drown.

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction

188 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 1995

About the author

Patricia Willis is the author of several well-received historical novels for middle-grade readers, including DANGER ALONG THE OHIO, winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award. She lives in North Canton, Ohio.

Reviews

[Stephanie A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather a shame I didn't know this existed as a kid; I'm sure I would have liked it. Even as an adult, I found this to be an excellent historical novel, with well-formed characters and a vivid setting, perfectly capturing not only the recently-post-WWII time period and the feel of a small/rural midwestern town, but the pain of a family devastated by the loss of their patriarch, for whom the end of the war brought no real relief. And also what I would have really been drawn to as a kid: so many cute sheep. (notch-eared Mildred!)

P.S. My ex-library copy comes complete with some snarky margin notes, in which a former reader wonders: all of the students were able to copy the Gettysburg Address down by hand, one after another from the single master copy, in the allotted class time? Why does Mandy keep bemoaning that she can't remember her father's face --"maybe look at a picture?" (it does seem odd that the family wouldn't have had at least one photo of him by 1943 -- they weren't that rare or expensive) And, most importantly for the climax of the story, how does the experienced shepherdess (her great-aunt) let her sheep get into this situation in the first place?

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really liked thus

[Clara Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pleasant children's book written to tell the story of a young 12 year old girl whose father died in 1946 in WWII. Now she and her mother and 9 year old brother must live with a great aunt on a sheep farm. The girl, Mandy is afraid of the sheep but it is her responsibility to bring the sheep at night. She is miserable because she refuses to believe that her father is dead. It was written on the fifth grade level.

[Mylinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book written for older elementary children but I quite liked it. It was just a very sweet book with a good message and a nice story that was very well written.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is written for the younger reader, and it has a good story.