A Trail of Crumbs

Author: Susie Finkbeiner

Publisher: Kregel

Release Date: March 28, 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

As the dust bowl rages on, so does the turmoil in young Pearl’s life!

Pearl Spence has been through more in her eleven years than most people have in a lifetime. Having to endure the dust bowl in the Oklahoma panhandle is bad enough, but finding out you’re adopted and then having you birth mother murdered before your eyes makes it seem like a cake walk.  On a rare nice day with a clear blue sky, Pearl hopes that new life is coming into Oklahoma, until she sees another raging duster heading their way.  This particular storm is going to do more damage than just skin deep, it will set a chain of events in place that will threaten to rip her family apart.

After A Cup of Dust, I was excited to hear that Pearl’s story was going to continue.  Having grown up with family members that lived during the dust bowl made me appreciate the research and time that the author put into her book.  I was happy that the first part of the book was still set in Oklahoma.  Then the remainder moved out to Michigan, which didn’t get the dust bowl but still had plenty of depression.  Reading this story, I wonder how much Pearl actually wrote of her own story.  I wonder if Susie Finkbeiner was sitting there and suddenly saw what happened to Pearl and thought “didn’t see that coming!”  I know there are some characters that have that ability and I could see Pearl in that role.

This story really created a civil war within Pearl, as with many kids who have the issue that Pearl has toward the end of this book. I really want to write more on the subject, but doing so will completely give away the climax of the book, so I’m not going there.  What I will say is that this is another great story that has raw emotion built into it so that you actually feel Pearl’s anguish.  And most importantly, her story is going to continue yet again coming February 2018!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.