ALA Booklist (Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 1994)

Erik and Helga are horrified when locusts devastate the family farm in southeastern Minnesota one summer in the 1870s. Their well is contaminated with dead grasshoppers and insect droppings, crops are destroyed, and many of their friends abandon their farms. Their fear increases when their father goes to seek work in the city, leaving them and their mother alone on the prairie to care for the animals over the winter. The following spring, their father returns, but so do the grasshoppers. The large print and picture book-style artwork (Johnson's watercolors are wonderful) make this appear most appropriate for young readers, but the plot is interesting enough to appeal to older ones, as well. Teacherswith classes of fourth-, fifth-, or sixth-graders might try reading the story aloud. (Reviewed September 15, 1994)

Horn Book

The fairly engrossing account--seen through the eyes of a young Swedish immigrant--of the grasshopper swarms that plagued the midwestern United States in the 1870s is hampered by awkward illustrations.

Kirkus Reviews

Coping with a plague of grasshoppers on the Minnesota prairie in the 1870s. Helga and her brother are fishing when they become aware of an odd cloud approaching with a ``strange deep hum.'' The story follows their initial horror; their futile effort to help their parents save the garden; and winter without Father, who works in a lumber camp to tide them over. A year later new grasshoppers hatch but move on without laying eggs. The authentic details here carry a simple narrative that's sure to fascinate young readers. Johnson's realistic watercolors aren't distinguished but give a good sense of the setting. Historical note. (Easy reader. 5-9)"

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-Set in Minnesota in the 1870s, this story brings some of the hardships of pioneer life to the attention of newly independent readers. The dark, shiny clouds racing across the prairie don't bring the rain that nine-year-old Helga and her seven-year-old brother, Erik, expect-instead, hordes of grasshoppers descend upon them, heralding the family's fight for survival. The action-packed beginning, in which the insects devastate the crops, changes to a conversation-driven text describing how the family makes plans and endures through the winter. Although the characters' faces are not well executed, the watercolor illustrations enhance the mood of the story and provide visual breaks in the text, which does not have chapter divisions. A two-page author's note is included. This is far from Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall (HarperCollins, 1985), but it is an adequate story.-Gale W. Sherman, Pocatello Public Library, ID