After a flood wipes out her family’s Ohio farm, Thea’s father decides to move them to Bloodless Valley, Colorado, where they spend every day trying to coax life from the dry ground. Struggling with her father’s strict rules and her undiagnosed partial deafness, 16-year-old Thea’s world is limited to her half-built home and the small cafe in town where she’s allowed to work. But as she gets to know other residents of the valley, including Louisa, the kind cafe owner; Sam, a community advocate; and Ray, a boy her age who’s deaf too, Thea starts to consider if the valley could come to feel like home. But the dust storms outside are getting worse, and Thea starts having strange dreams—ones that tell of a huge disaster coming her family’s way.
Dust tells Thea’s story, which is one of change and transition as she learns to see the world beyond her tight family unit. Her father’s rigid view of the world grows even more strange to Thea as she meets new people: Louisa shows her incredible generosity, Sam introduces her to different people in the community, and Ray is the first person she’s met who relates to her experience with deafness. Through these relationships, Thea experiences lifestyles vastly different from her own. Her world widens, asking her to question what she really believes about relationships, love, education and who she wants to be.
Dust takes a stark, honest look at the valley’s barrenness: Thea and her family struggle to grow their usual crops from the dry, dusty ground, and resources like water start to dwindle. But Stine also displays the vibrancy of desert life, not only in its unique floral and fauna but also in the community built by its dynamic cast of characters. From Helen, the artist who finds inspiration in light, to Elmer, the mysterious writer who sleeps in the community library, Thea’s surrounded by new perspectives. The book makes no judgment on the various ways characters choose to make a life in the desert, instead showing the importance of community and cooperation, even and especially between people who are different.
Dust is a thoughtful, sincere exploration of climate change and disability, one which captures the longing, confusion and hope of the teenage experience in a realistic and heartwarming way.
