Dust [Mass Market Paperback]

Grade 6-9-In a bone-dry summer during the Great Depression, Matthew, seven, disappears from a small prairie community in Saskatchewan. Soon afterward, Abram Harsich comes to town, and before long nearly everyone has fallen under his mesmerizing spell. He claims to be a meteorologist and enlists local men to help him build a "rainmill" that will bring an end to the crippling drought. Only Matthew's brother Robert, 11, who has visions of his dead Uncle Edmund trying to warn him of something, and bookish Uncle Alden remain skeptical and apart. In time, memories of Matthew fade; then other children disappear. Only Robert really remembers his brother and alone he pieces together what has become of the missing children. Suspense builds to a searing and satisfying climax involving malevolent "traders" from the stars. As odd as this may sound, it is a logical conclusion to a story filled with mystery. The plot is strewn with foreshadowing, portents of evil, and foreboding. In Robert's mind, imagery invoking the desert, ancient Egypt, and the Bible abounds, and the spare prose is poetic in its evocations of both the 20th-century setting and the ancient world. Robert is a strong, stalwart character who loves words and stories, and has some understanding of the universe as mysterious. This unusual, well-written story will definitely exercise readers' imaginations. Choose it for science-fiction fans who are ready for something a little different.
Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Gr. 8-12. Set in Saskatchewan during its dust-bowl years, Slade's novel begins eerily as seven-year-old Matthew vanishes on his first walk into town alone. Matthew's parents and the entire community appear to accept and forget his disappearance, but a strange set of circumstances leads his 11-year-old brother, Robert, to conclude that Matthew is still alive. It seems that Matthew's disappearance, as well as the vanishing of several other area children, corresponds with the appearance of Abram Hamsich, a stranger who promises to build a rainmaking machine that will end the terrible drought. Hamsich soon has the whole town mesmerized, except for Robert (and his uncle), who gradually realizes Hamsich's horrific true plans. Calling up Ray Bradbury's 1962 classic Something Wicked This Way Comes and the legend of the immortal soulless wanderer, Slade's haunting story shows the triumph of imperfect hope over manifest evil. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

“Sparklingly original . . . heartbreakingly beautiful . . . a climax that almost takes one’s breath away.”
–The Globe and Mail



From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.

Winner of the

2001 Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature

2001 Saskatchewan Book Awards, Children’s Literature

2001 Mr. Christie’s Book Award

… combineshomespun storytelling mystery and sophisticated metaphysical aspects to create amulti-layered tension." The National Post

"...sparklingly original…" The Globe and Mail

Matthew is missing. Robert’sseven-year-old brother has vanished on a walk into town. Robert’s mother hadasked him to accompany Matthew to Horshoe to buy some some gum, but Robert wasmiles away engrossed in a Martian adventure story, and certainly not home on hisfarm in Depression-era Saskatchewan. And when his younger brother disappears,Robert figures it is his fault and he has to find him.

He soon notices there is something sinister happening. The hens are layingeggs with blood in them; a broken jar found out on the prairie has a plaintiveecho of a young girl’s voice; and most disturbingly, his parents are lost in aweird sort of daydream and have forgotten about their missing son.

It is up to Robert to discover where his brother has disappeared – alongwith the other boys and girls of Horshoe. He is led to an ivory-skinned strangerwho suddenly appears and bewitches both parents and children with magicalmirrors and a fantastic rainmaking machine.

In a style that has stomach muscles tightening right from the first sentence,Arthur Slade brings a new and sophisticated brand of psychological fear to theyoung-adult market. Dust is a story that will leave audiences breathless.

“Sparklingly original . . . heartbreakingly beautiful . . . a climax that almost takes one’s breath away.”
–The Globe and Mail



From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

ARTHUR SLADE is the author of Northern Frights, a series of young adult novels based on old Icelandic folktales that includes Draugr, The Haunting of Drang Island and The Loki Wolf (Orca Books). Draugr was nominated for a Saskatchewan Book Award for Children’s Literature and a Small Press Book Award in the US. He also writes comic books, including “Hallowed Knight,” a four-issue series that has been popular all over the world. He was raised on a ranch in the Cypress Hills of southwest Saskatchewan and began writing in high school. After graduating with an Honors Degree in English from the University of Saskatchewan he worked as an advertising copywriter. He now writes fulltime from his home in Saskatoon.