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When the Sky Rained Dust
Fourteen-year-old Josh and his friend Shan are facing hard times on their families? farms in Central Texas in 1934. It's the days of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, and rain is as scarce as money. With the long dry spell have come wild animals with flashing teeth and deadly rabies. Dust storms known a black blizzards are raging, threatening lives and destroying crop land. Will a rainmaker bring rain? Will their families lose their homes? Will Josh's and Shan's friendship survive? From rabid animals attacks to a deadly flood to a barreling freight train, Josh is in for an adventure he will never forget.
134 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
8 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Dearen
41 books30 followersA 2022 inductee in the Texas Literary Hall of Fame, Patrick Dearen is the author of 19 novels and 10 nonfiction books, including primary-sourced histories. Born in 1951, he grew up in the small West Texas town of Sterling City. He earned a bachelor of journalism from The University of Texas at Austin in 1974 and received nine national and state awards as a reporter for two West Texas daily newspapers.
An authority on the Pecos and Devils rivers of Texas, Dearen also has gained recognition for his knowledge of old-time cowboy life. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he preserved the firsthand accounts of 76 men who cowboyed before 1932. These interviews, along with decades of archival study, have enriched Dearen’s novels. His newest nonfiction work is "Bitter Waters: The Struggles of the Pecos River," the first environmental history of the Pecos.
His middle-grade novel, "Halloween on the Butterfield Trail," was published in 2025 by TCU Press. That same year, his novel for adult readers, "The Big Dry," was named a finalist for the prestigious Spur Award of Western Writers of America. In 2024, his novel "Grizzly Moon" was also Spur Award finalist.
Dearen's 2022 novel was "The End of Nowhere," based on the events in Porvenir, Texas in 1918, when Texas Rangers and accomplices--without authorization--executed 15 men and boys of Mexican heritage in retaliation for the Brite Ranch Raid of Christmas Day in 1917. No solid evidence linked any of the executed individuals to the raid, and no one was ever indicted for participating in the executions.
Other recent novels are "Haunted Border" and "Apache Lament," both of which received awards. Other award-winning fiction titles include "Dead Man's Boot." and "The Big Drift," winner of the 2015 Spur Award for Western Traditional Novel. This work is set against the backdrop of the actual big drift of 1884, when a blizzard drove hundreds of thousands of free-ranging cattle down from the Great Plains into Texas. He has also authored the novels "To Hell or the Pecos" and "Perseverance," the latter work set along the rails in Depression-era Texas.
Dearen has received awards for his books from Western Writers of America, Western Fictioneers, Academy of Western Artists, Will Rogers Medallion, San Antonio Conservation Society, West Texas Historical Association, New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards, and Permian Historical Society. A backpacking enthusiast and ragtime pianist, he makes his home in Midland, Texas.
An authority on the Pecos and Devils rivers of Texas, Dearen also has gained recognition for his knowledge of old-time cowboy life. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he preserved the firsthand accounts of 76 men who cowboyed before 1932. These interviews, along with decades of archival study, have enriched Dearen’s novels. His newest nonfiction work is "Bitter Waters: The Struggles of the Pecos River," the first environmental history of the Pecos.
His middle-grade novel, "Halloween on the Butterfield Trail," was published in 2025 by TCU Press. That same year, his novel for adult readers, "The Big Dry," was named a finalist for the prestigious Spur Award of Western Writers of America. In 2024, his novel "Grizzly Moon" was also Spur Award finalist.
Dearen's 2022 novel was "The End of Nowhere," based on the events in Porvenir, Texas in 1918, when Texas Rangers and accomplices--without authorization--executed 15 men and boys of Mexican heritage in retaliation for the Brite Ranch Raid of Christmas Day in 1917. No solid evidence linked any of the executed individuals to the raid, and no one was ever indicted for participating in the executions.
Other recent novels are "Haunted Border" and "Apache Lament," both of which received awards. Other award-winning fiction titles include "Dead Man's Boot." and "The Big Drift," winner of the 2015 Spur Award for Western Traditional Novel. This work is set against the backdrop of the actual big drift of 1884, when a blizzard drove hundreds of thousands of free-ranging cattle down from the Great Plains into Texas. He has also authored the novels "To Hell or the Pecos" and "Perseverance," the latter work set along the rails in Depression-era Texas.
Dearen has received awards for his books from Western Writers of America, Western Fictioneers, Academy of Western Artists, Will Rogers Medallion, San Antonio Conservation Society, West Texas Historical Association, New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards, and Permian Historical Society. A backpacking enthusiast and ragtime pianist, he makes his home in Midland, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 5, 2025
It was the time of The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in 1934 Texas. Josh, age 14, and his best friend, Shan, are facing hardships with their families. While neighbours are selling off their land and moving away, Josh does what he can to help prevent his struggling father keep their farm. The story is told in Josh's voice and the reader gets to travel with Josh when he is fighting off a rabid wild fox, surviving dust storms and a flash flood, leaving home for the first time, experiencing unsettling incidents, and returning home after a tragedy.
This is a dramatic and very interesting story that pulled me in.
I chose this book for the 2025 52bookclubchallenge, prompt “Author’s last name is also a first name.” (Dearen is seldom used now but it qualifies.)
I also used it for the 2025 Indigo reading challenge, prompt “Nature as main character.”
This is a dramatic and very interesting story that pulled me in.
I chose this book for the 2025 52bookclubchallenge, prompt “Author’s last name is also a first name.” (Dearen is seldom used now but it qualifies.)
I also used it for the 2025 Indigo reading challenge, prompt “Nature as main character.”
September 24, 2023
a real page turner
Another great novel from Patrick. I read this one in two settings as I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend.
Another great novel from Patrick. I read this one in two settings as I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews