Young Jonathan Kaufmann would always remember his mother’s peals of hysterical laughter when the three blocks of ice were placed near the stove to thaw; the blocks of ice, after all, encased his dead brothers who froze to death after wandering lost for hours in blinding snow and frigid temperatures.  As David Laskin vividly describes in The Children’s Blizzard, the tragedy of the Kaufmann family who lost three sons during the terrible blizzard of January 13, 1888 was just one of the many tragedies that affected families throughout Nebraska and the Dakotas.  With little warning from the still fledgling weather service, men went to work in their fields that morning and children went to school, never dreaming that the weather that for once was milder than usual should turn so quickly and violently deadly.  Decisions had to be made and quickly – Should the schoolchildren stay in the poorly heated school houses or should the teachers risk sending them home?  Should wives look for the husbands in the fields or stay inside with their young children?  The wrong choice could mean death.  Stories of heroism and heartbreak make The Children’s Blizzard an unforgettable account of an unforgettable blizzard.