Review: A Storm Called Katrina

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Peachtree Publishers (August 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561455911
• ISBN-13: 978-1561455911

Product Description

 

Ten-year-old Louis Daniel hates it when Mama treats him like a baby. But when Hurricane Katrina blows through the Gulf Coast on a fateful August night, followed by broken levees and rising floodwaters threatening New Orleans, Louis feels like a little kid again. With no time to gather their belongings save Louis s beloved horn Daddy leads the family from their home and into an unfamiliar, watery world of floating debris, lurking critters, a winsome black-and-white dog, and desperate neighbors heading for dry ground. Taking shelter in the already-crowded Superdome, Louis and his parents wait and wait. As the days pass, the electricity goes out, the air conditioning dies, the bathrooms are closed, and people around them begin to bicker as they run out of food and water. When Daddy fails to return from a scouting mission within the Dome, Louis knows he s no longer a baby. It s up to him to find Daddy, with the help of his prized cornet. 

 

About the Author

 

Myron Uhlberg is the author of several picture books and the adult memoir Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love¸ which was featured in the Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers Program. He lives in California.


My Review


I couldn't pass up this children's book on Net Galley.  Hurricane Katrina is one of the most memorable events in my lifetime and probably in most peoples'.  The storm has caused the levee to break and young Louis' neighbourhood is quickly flooding.  All he do is grab his cornet before they vacate.   They escape with their lives on a wooden pallet/raft.  They eventually make it to the Superdome.  Louis' cornet figures prominently throughout the book.  Very realistic children's book to help educate those who were too young to remember.  The poignant illustrations portray the story perfectly.

Highly recommend this book for young and old alike.