Days of Sand is a beautifully illustrated story about life in the Dust Bowl, through the eyes of a New York City photographer.

Based on the true events and real photos (that are included in the book!) this story shows how it feels to look in from outside devastation.

I was a little underwhelmed with the ending, it felt like I only read half a book. I'm hoping this means it will be a multiple book story.

My thanks to Netgalley, Aimée de Jongh, and Europe Comics for the ARC.

Wow! An absolutely incredible graphic novel, filled with poignant musings on the photography industry and how what we see in photos is framed, all wrapped up in one of the most atmospheric books I've read this year. I tend to read almost exclusively fantasy graphic novels, but after 'Days of Sand' I will be on the lookout for more historical fiction graphic novels - particularly if Aimée de Jongh is involved!

The writing reflects the story perfectly, and I could practically feel the dust, dryness, and desolation rolling off the pages. Now onto perhaps my favourite element; the illustrations. I could spend hours with this novel, just gazing at the art. The layout is intricate but never confusing, and the art style is both nostalgic and relevant. I wouldn't hesitate to buy myself a physical copy of this book if I came across it. I particularly enjoyed the dust storm illustrations - the evocative imagery in that section pushed 'Days of Sand' into one of the best graphic novels I've read in recent years.

Review to come July 27th to blog/goodreads.

I received this graphic novel from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I just love Aimée de Jongh's work, I have been a fan of her since Snippers. I have met her once at Animecon. So I was hyped about her newest work, Days of Sand. So a big thank you for Netgalley for putting it on your site so I could read it!

This book is wonderful. Gorgeously drawn and featuring a great character, a man (or is he more a boy given how inexperienced he is in many things) named John. He gets a shiny new job. Well, shiny. It sounds shiny. His first big job as photographer. He is going to be photographing the Dust Bowl so that the public will see what is going on. He is going to find out that dust and sand gets everywhere and that bringing a shovel is the one equipment he should have thrown into his car when he left.

I loved seeing the Dust Bowl, it is such a desolate place, sand and dust everywhere. But I was also horrified. Yes, it looked pretty. But the damage and hurt it did to people just countered all that beauty. We see how hard everyone is struggling. How houses are half eaten by the sand and dust. How land just has disappeared. How storms happen. Little kids with gasmasks and people without any fat on their bones. It was horrifying. I just wanted to step into the story and hand out food and water to these people and their families. I can imagine that people would flee. Would take their family, some meagre supplies and just go.

We see how John is faring in the midst of this. Trying to shoot his photographs. Figure out where to get food and how to get rid of the sand that gets everywhere. Finding out that standing in a big dust storm at night may not be the best idea. Trying to befriend people. Including a sweet little boy who is very happy with the cornbread that John has and is willing to help him out. I hope we see more of this little kid in the next book. And the same goes for Betty, a kick-ass woman.

I also love that the question arises, should you stage photography or should you keep it natural? He has a list to finish, and he is struggling with it. He wants to follow the list, but that means staging. It was an interesting question and I hope that we see more of it in the next volume of this series. I am curious what John will decide in the end. Will he throw away his script and just show the raw and unstaged reality of the Dust Bowl... or will he go for the list. I do hope that John decides to go for the first one.

The art was just amazing, I love how much Aimée has grown over the years. She always made beautiful things, but it keeps getting more beautiful each new project, and I love it!

I would highly recommend this gorgeous and at times heart-breaking book. I cannot wait for the next part of this series. I want it now!

The art in the book was gorgeous, but the story was awesome too. More then once I found myself with goosebumps.

As a child the Dust Bowl has been a point in time I had fixated on, but with time the sharp edges of reality had been softened with time and this book does a wonderful job capturing the heartbreak and desperation of the times.

As a historian of the US West, this is the kind of graphic novel I LIVE for. Grounded in history, this fictional account tracks 22-year-old photographer John Clark taking photos for the Farm Security Administration of the Dust Bowl in the panhandle of Oklahoma. Clark struggles with instructions to arrange his photos prior to shooting to maximize the effect of poverty and the unfortunate circumstances of these landscapes and people. Clark is provided with a list of photos to take of things like "orphaned kids" or family moving from the area, and Clark works his way through the most effective way of doing this -- by building relationships with people first rather than coming in hot with a camera. There's lots of think about here as a historian, not only in the historical setting, but also in the methods of collecting stories and relating to people.

Overall, the illustrations are incredible and the book is peppered with photos from New Deal photographers. I can't wait for the next edition!

Thanks to Europe Comics and Netgalley for this eARC!

This graphic novel takes place after the great depression, where a photographer is sent to photograph the dust bowl calamity, I really liked this graphic novel, it's very atmospheric, I also loved the mix of drawings with photographs, which brings this work of fiction closer to reality, it reminds you that even though this story did not happen, the events demonstrated in this book did occur.

I recommend this book to everyone, but especially for those who love photography and history, this book brings historical events in a very interesting way, and I will definitely continue to read the other parts of this story.

Great art combined with historical pictures in this story about a photographer in the dust bowl during the depression (1937). I liked the style and colors used for the art.
It is a quick read about a time period I don't know a lot about.
I found it very interesting and look forward to read more by Aimée and the rest of this story.

Thanks to net galley.com and europe comics for the advance ARC pdf copy.

Liked Days of Sand (Part 1) was my first read from the author Aimee de Jongh, the art work, along with historically photo's was interesting, it takes place in 1937, during the depression and about the dust bowl in Central and Southern States.

Jack Clark a second generation photographer, from New York, gets hired to by the Government to go the dust bowl to take photos, that will enable them to know how to better help the people living their. He ends up in Oklahoma, the pan handle part, found it interesting, historical even and a read that one can learn about from reading Days of Sand. Definitely will keep reading the other parts of this one, would recommend and good for any age.