Anna Was Here

Culture shock hits hard when nine-year-old Anna Nickel has to leave her beloved Colorado home for Oakwood, Kans., where her minister father—whose family roots are there—is called to help the church community get “over a hump.” “Gold Ribbon Safety Citizen” of the fourth grade, Anna prides herself on being prepared for Colorado emergencies like bears and wildfires, but her Safety Tips notebook holds no advice for the dangers of Oakwood, such as feuding relatives (including an especially hostile cousin) and rattlesnakes. Anna is lively and thoughtful, and her parents are sympathetic and credible, but her many relatives and church members are a little hard to keep straight. Liberally sprinkled with lists of tips for disasters ranging from earthquakes and floods to clouds and bees, Kurtz’s (The Feverbird’s Claw) book is distinguished by its comfortable treatment of God and faith, as Anna struggles to understand the unfairness and unpredictability of disasters—natural and otherwise—as well as of human beings: “What about all the people of Pompeii baking bread until fwoomp? Volcanic ash covered them.” An appealing mix of humor and substance. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)