A Storm Called Katrina
by Myron Uhlberg, Colin Bootman
A moving fictional story about the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the people of New Orleans, as seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy. A must-have for introducing this historical event to children.Louis Daniel hates it when Mama treats him like a baby. But when Hurricane Katrina blows through the Gulf Coast, Louis feels like a little kid again. With no time to gather their belongingsexcept Louis's beloved hornDaddy leads the family into an unfamiliar, watery world of floating debris, lurking critters, and desperate neighbors.Taking shelter in the already-crowded Superdome, Louis and his parents wait...and wait. Conditions continue to worsen, and 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 his fatherwith the help of his prized cornet.Award-winning author Myron Uhlberg highlights resilience and hope throughout this sensitively portrayed fictional story based on the real events of Hurricane Katrina. Colin Bootman's dramatic illustrations enhance the warmth and strength of the young narrator's family as they work through the tragedy.
Paperback
English
Brand New
Author Biography
Myron Uhlberg is the award-wining and critically acclaimed author of several children's books. Uhlberg is the first-born son of two deaf parents. His first language was ASL (American Sign Language). After graduating from Brandeis University, he served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He then spent the next forty years in the garment industry. His first book was published when he was sixty-six years old. He has appeared on NPR's Talk of the Nation and was featured in the Ken Burns documentary film, Jackie Robinson. He lives in California.Colin Bootman was born in Trinidad but moved to the United States at the age of seven. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, he has illustrated numerous books for children, including Almost to Freedom, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book. He lives in New York.
Review
… "A heartrending story of a New Orleans family's experience through Hurricane Katrina. . . Simple, affecting prose and intricate, inspired paintings make this one worth sharing for sure." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"This remarkable homage to New Orleans tells of Louis Daniel, named for Armstrong, who leaves his flooded home with his parents and his cornet. . . The oil-on-board paintings of shimmering water and unfocused crowds capture contradictions; both harsh reality and otherworldliness; both the enormity and the intimacy of the event, somehow managing to leave out the horror. Uhlberg's prose does the same" —School Library Journal
… "Bootman's dramatic oil paintings and the boy's first-person narration provide realistic immediacy as the boy's family makes its way through their flooded neighborhood on "a piece of someone's porch that was floating by." Readers are in for a deeply personal and sometimes uncomfortable look at a disaster whose ramifications are still being felt" —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
… "The juxtaposition of the understated text and muscular artwork works well. . . A memorable addition to the growing number of books about Hurricane Katrina, this offering personalizes a national tragedy" —Booklist, Starred Review
Review Text
"Can the enormity of a large--scale tragedy...be conveyed to school--age children without frightening them? How to describe the emotional toll without imposing a burden? It's a difficult balance. But it's one that the writer Myron Uhlberg and the illustrator Colin Bootman strike gracefully...this moving introduction to Hurricane Katrina imparts its lessons with a restraint that powerfully increases their gravity." -- New York Times * "...It also embodies a pure style of jazz and blues music that New Orleans is best known for. It expresses uncertainty and looming danger, inspires hope, and supports the idea that home truly is where the heart is..." -- New York Journal of Books * "A heartrending story of a New Orleans family's experience through Hurricane Katrina...Simple, affecting prose and intricate, inspired paintings make this one worth sharing for sure." -- Kirkus , * STARRED REVIEW ** "...Bootman's dramatic oil paintings and the boy's first--person narration provide realistic immediacy as the boy's family makes its way through their flooded neighborhood on "a piece of someone's porch that was floating by." Readers are in for a deeply personal and sometimes uncomfortable look at a disaster whose ramifications are still being felt..." -- Publishers Weekly , * STARRED REVIEW ** "...The juxtaposition of the understated text and muscular artwork works well.....A memorable addition to the growing number of books about Hurricane Katrina, this offering personalizes a national tragedy..." -- Booklist , * STARRED REVIEW **
Review Quote
"A heartrending story of a New Orleans family's experience through Hurricane Katrina...Simple, affecting prose and intricate, inspired paintings make this one worth sharing for sure."
Description for Teachers/Educators
Leveling Information Accelerated Reader AR Quiz#: 144332 AR Reading Level: 3.4 AR Points: 0.5 F&P (Fountas & Pinnell) F&P Level: R F&P Grade: 4 Reading Counts Reading Counts Level: 2.6 Reading Counts Points: 3 Reading Counts Interest Level: 3--5
Details
