Review by New York Times Review
ten years have passed since Americans were glued to their televisions, watching the catastrophic results of Hurricane Katrina. Yet much of the drama happened after the storm pummeled New Orleans. For readers too young to remember, three new books revisit those troubled days and offer a clear view of that notorious storm's impact. Explaining the complicated series of events that took place during the hurricane and in its aftermath is no easy feat, but Don Brown's graphic nonfiction account, "Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans," accomplishes the task with strong results. Gritty watercolor illustrations in somber colors project the cloud of despair hanging over the Crescent City, and brief bits of dialogue in speech bubbles support the facts that Brown lays out in a brisk, straightforward tone. One harrowing scene shows a couple escaping to their home's attic. When the rising water catches up with them, they scratch a hole through the roof with a knife. We see others who weren't so fortunate. Brown doesn't hold back in showing how the government failed in its responsibilities. Although he credits the Coast Guard and local heroes with rescuing thousands, much of his book addresses the sloppy handling of the evacuation by people in charge at all levels. In an early illustration, a railroad employee says: "We offered ... to take evacuees out of harm's way. The city declined." Below that is a short but profound sentence: "Five trains leave New Orleans empty." This book could almost make its point on the powerful illustrations alone, but Brown's precise language secures the historical details in an unforgettable way. Brown is the author and illustrator of two other nonfiction graphic historical accounts, the much praised "The Great American Dust Bowl" and "America Is Under Attack," about Sept. 11, 2001. Like those earlier books about national catastrophes, "Drowned City" delivers a brave treatment of important and uncomfortable details. Don't look for a happy ending here. Brown hints at the recovery that eventually got underway, but the book's deeper intent is clearly understood: to show that the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina's arrival in New Orleans went beyond the destruction caused by high winds, rains and flooding. HURRICANE KATRINA DID, of course, have an after-story. Two new novels take young readers on emotional journeys that convey what it's like to lose your home, your family life and your city, then discover your way back. The return may be welcome, but it's not without cost or alteration. Reesie, the main character of "Finding Someplace," by Denise Lewis Patrick, lives in the New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward. When the story opens, she eagerly awaits her 13th-birthday celebration, where she plans to debut a dress she created. The timing couldn't be worse. News of Hurricane Katrina's approach causes many of Reesie's neighbors, including her best friends, to leave New Orleans. Her police officer father's loyalty to his job and city influences his decision to stay. Her mother wants the family to flee to safety. Their polarized views cause friction between Reesie's loving parents. Through spare dialogue and small gestures, Patrick skillfully develops these characters along with others. Yet she never forgets it is Reesie's story. The hurricane brings on more changes than the devastation of Reesie's home. In the hours surrounding Katrina she experiences a first kiss, discovers her elderly neighbor's surprising past and learns that a storm can bring out the best or worst in people. Patrick is the author of many books for young readers, including the well-received story collection "A Matter of Souls." She lives in New Jersey, but was born in Natchitoches, La. In an author's note she mentions taking a drive through the Lower Ninth Ward and discovering that her aunt's newly renovated home sat next door to an empty lot where a house once stood. What she saw seems to have inspired her keen attention to building Reesie's world. In "Finding Someplace," she unfolds a complicated situation with a simple story line. Through Reesie's emotions we see the unrest created by Katrina and, eventually, her realization that a hurricane might demolish a house but it doesn't have to destroy a family. TAMARA ELLIS SMITH'S first novel, "Another Kind of Hurricane," begins with two fractured lives. Told from various points of view, the story belongs to Henry in Vermont and Zavion in New Orleans. Henry's grief over his best friend's recent death is mixed with guilt. Smith reveals why, gradually unveiling moments of the fateful day his friend died. Down South, Zavion is still coming to terms with his own grief over the death of his mother. His free-spirited artist father offers little comfort. The boys live worlds apart, and at first readers may question how their stories connect. Patience pays off. Henry's tale begins when he takes a marble from his friend's coffin. The marble was a lucky token exchanged, back and forth, between the two. In New Orleans, the arrival of Hurricane Katrina sets Zavion's story in motion. Through a series of circumstances the marble travels from person to person, eventually causing the boys to meet. When they do, readers may wonder if the journey is fueled by serendipity or magic. Henry believes retrieving the marble will hold the answer to his feelings of guilt over his friend's death. Zavion thinks paying back a debt will resolve his turmoil. The hurricane's outcome isn't glossed over. Smith takes her time showing the struggle and desperation New Orleans citizens experienced. Through Zavion, we learn how hunger may cause people to steal and how being turned away from safety at gunpoint can cover them with a veil of hopelessness. Even so, "Another Kind of Hurricane" is not dependent on Hurricane Katrina to steer the story. Grief is the driving force. With all its destruction of property and dishevelment of lives, and the rebuilding that eventually followed, Hurricane Katrina was bound to make its way into literature for all ages. These three books show young readers that when life as we know it is interrupted, sometimes we do more than survive. We come out stronger on the other side. KIMBERLY WILLIS HOLT won a National Book Award for her novel "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town." Her new book, "Dear Hank Williams," is set in Louisiana.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 9, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
Henry, a 10-year-old boy living in Vermont, has just lost his best friend in a tragic accident. Zavion, a 10-year-old boy living in New Orleans, has just lost his home in Hurricane Katrina. Through a series of coincidences, the two boys meet, and their stories collide. In this deceptively simple story, written in a tone that feels authentic rather than maudlin, grief and guilt act as constant companions to Henry and Zavion, who are haunted by their losses. Debut author Smith doesn't shy away from harsh realities that may affect young kids, such as Zavion's post-Katrina New Orleans or Henry seeing his best friend in a coffin. Their stories are told in alternating chapters, and from within those narratives come accounts of people who have helped them mend. Zavion and Henry have clear, distinct voices, and Smith's cast is meaningfully diverse. Their paired stories of loss and redemption emphasize that, even though the circumstances may be different, grief is not unique, and a community of understanding friends and family can be powerfully healing.--Linsenmeyer, Erin Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Two 10-year-old boys, Zavion and Henry, live 1600 miles apart in New Orleans and in Vermont; facing separate tragedies, they become connected by a treasured marble and by the power of their grief. After Zavion loses his home to Hurricane Katrina, he and his father move to a temporary home in Baton Rouge. Meanwhile, Henry's best friend Wayne has a fatal accident while hiking on a mountain trail. Debut author Smith handles the aftermath of both events tenderly, as well as how they begin to unite the characters: Henry loses a marble that he and Wayne shared when his mother donates his jeans to a New Orleans charity; Henry hitches a ride to the city with a volunteer in an attempt to find the marble. Meanwhile, Zavion stows away in a bird rescue van back to New Orleans. Smith sensitively depicts both Henry's rage toward the mountain he loved for betraying him and Zavion's consuming feeling of obligation to the home that has vanished. As the boys' paths converge, their stories are gracefully laced together and their individual communities are vividly imagined. Ages 9-12. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Two stories of loss collide in this work of realistic fiction. Zavion and his father lose their house and everything they own in Hurricane Katrina. Zavion's already experienced the death of his mother, and he has created a personal code of conduct to help him survive. After he and his father take food from an abandoned convenience store in New Orleans, Zavion believes he has a debt to pay. That's going to be hard to do from Baton Rouge, where he and his father have relocated. Meanwhile, in Vermont, Henry is dealing with sudden death of his friend Wayne. Henry was with Wayne at the time, but the memories of the event are too painful for him to recall. The two boys passed a special marble back and forth for good luck for years. When Henry's mother donates some of his clothes to victims of Hurricane Katrina, she accidentally gives away the marble, which becomes the catalyst for merging the two plots, with Henry making his way to New Orleans in hopes of finding it and Zavion hatching his own plan to travel to the city to pay his debt. Smith excels at capturing the urgency of crisis, and strong, fast-paced openings of both plotlines pull readers right into the story. While the narrative is based on coincidence and chance, the voices and losses of Zavion and Henry are plausible and heartbreaking. Less believable are the many minor characters in the book, who are difficult to keep track of and who are sometimes inserted without context. However, the disorientation this creates is not entirely out of place here, since the novel mirrors the characters' feelings and experiences. The author is at her best when she conveys emotionally charged moments, with the prose reminiscent of a free verse poem; a particularly memorable moment involves the two main characters literally running into each other. It is refreshing to see the feelings of two middle grade boys explored so fearlessly. VERDICT This is a novel that will spark contemplation and discussion.-Juliet Morefield, Multnomah County Library, OR © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Two ten-year-old boys. Henry from Vermont; Zavion from New Orleans. Henrys best friend, Wayne, was killed in a fall on a mountain; Zavion lost almost everything he had in Hurricane Katrina. When Henry takes a marble -- the marble he and Wayne used to pass back and forth when good luck was needed -- from Waynes casket, it serves as a remembrance, until his mother donates clothes, including Henrys jeans (with the marble in a pocket), to the Salvation Army in New Orleans, where Zavion gets the jeans and happens upon the marble. Henry and his best friends father travel to New Orleans, and Henry and Zavion eventually meet. Each in need of healing, they begin a friendship, and the marble turns out to be more than a lucky talisman; it has a sort of magic that connects people, pulling them together, holding hope in such connections. Though the plot -- related in alternating third-person points of view -- is predictable, and life lessons are spelled out a bit too neatly, the story of two young boys finding each other in a time of need is memorable. The mystery of what exactly happened to Wayne is slowly revealed, drawing readers into the tale. An authors note relates the sources of inspiration for this heartfelt and philosophical story of dual journeys toward a hopeful future. dean schneider (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Two 10-year-old boys, both on journeys in the wake of loss, find themselves connected by a simple marbleand much more. Zavion and his father evacuate to Baton Rouge after surviving Hurricane Katrina. Zavion, traumatized by the destruction and death he witnessed, is also heartbroken that he and his father had to steal candy bars from a local store to survive. Eventually, he is given a pair of donated blue jeans with a marble in the pocket. Henry is traveling from Vermont to New Orleans on the hunt for that very marble, accidentally given away by his mother. The marble was a magical talisman he shared with his best friend, who fell to his death as the two raced home from an overnight mountaintop adventure. In a bit of serendipity that feels like grace in this well-constructed storyline, the boys meet on the streets of New Orleans, Henry searching for his marble and Zavion returning to the market to pay for the candy bars. The two, who seem so different on the surface, come to understand all they have in common and begin to help each other confront their losses and their fears. Elegant prose and emotional authenticity will make this title sing not only for those who have experienced tragedies, but for everyone who knows the magic that only true friendship can foster. (Historical fiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.