Looking ahead to summer, book fair coordinator Rachel Hochberg points to a debut novel she’s anticipating handselling at Children’s Book World in Haverford, Pa.: It’s Another Kind of Hurricane by Tamara Ellis Smith, due out in July.
I talk to a lot of kids who are searching for sad books, stories that move them and maybe make them cry a little, so I’m always on the lookout for solid cathartic reads. I’m a fan of a good cry myself, and books are the best way to release all that pent-up emotion! Another Kind of Hurricane seemed to promise some true-to-life drama and a hopeful ending, and it lived up to that promise beautifully.
Told from multiple viewpoints, the book gradually unravels the story of two boys who live seemingly different lives on opposite ends of the country, but have both been touched by tragedy. In New Orleans, Zavion and his father narrowly escape when Hurricane Katrina strikes and their home is lost in the floodwater; in Vermont, Henry must face the sight of Mount Mansfield, where his best friend Wayne died, every day.
When Henry’s old jeans are donated to disaster relief with the lucky marble he and Wayne shared still in the pocket, his and Zavion’s lives become intertwined, through the marble’s journey from Vermont to Louisiana and through their own journeys, both literal and emotional.
Smith’s simple and lyrical prose combines the event-based realism of Lauren Tarshis’s I Survived series, the heartwarming emotion of Wonder by R.J. Palacio, and the plot complexity of Lisa Graff’s A Tangle of Knots into a story about grief, healing, and friendship in spite of superficial differences. It’s a perfect choice for those middle-grade readers who are looking to be moved and uplifted, and I’ll definitely be suggesting it to elementary and middle-school librarians as well!
Another Kind of Hurricane by Tamara Ellis Smith. Random House/Schwartz & Wade, $16.99 July ISBN 978-0-553-51193-2
