A Storm Called Katrina by Myron Uhlberg

Hi there readers!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers....the place to feed your need to read with a tasty bookish treat any day of the week.  Like what you ask? Well let's see...first we've the Be Nicholson's Agent event where you get to learn all about spooky creepy writer Scott Nicholson AND get a chance to win a $10 gift card.  Then we have out blog guest from yesterday, author Tami Lewis Brown with a great post on "The Name Game" and your chance to win 1 of 2 copies of her latest title, 'The Map of Me'.  For all the details, just click on any of the links on the right hand sidebar under 'current contests'.  As if that wasn't enough, there's a new review just on the horizon.  See it there? It's coming....right now actually.

Today's featured title I actually picked up to pass the time.  Truth be told,  it was sitting in my "to be read" mountain and looked like a great little reading escape.  Little did I know what I was in store for; I'm afraid I underestimated it much like many did the storm that shares its name with the title.  Allow me to introduce you to this little gem....today's book of choice is....

A Storm Called Katrina
By
Myron Uhlberg
Illustrated by
Colin Bootman

We all know the story of Katrina. Despite your geographic location, back in August 2005 all eyes were turned towards this massive storm system as it churned its way through the Gulf.  Living down here, I can attest to that fact...it was pretty hair raising. You never know with hurricanes ...they can be going one direction and then be hit by another front or steering winds and boom, instead of missing you completely, you are the new bull's eye.  This storm started out no different and then grew into a monster.  That monster hit New Orleans full steam ahead and brought with it rains and winds like no other...but the worst was yet to come.  As the rain piled up, the levees gave way and well, the destruction still haunts us today. 

This story is a fictional account of Louis Daniel and his family as they struggled to make it through these very real events. The voice of the main character is young (he's 10 years old) but true. Despite having lived so close to the events and meeting some of the people displaced by the storm years later, it was through Louis's eyes that mine found tears. The destruction was so complete affecting land, man, and animal. The choices to be made hard in the best of times let alone when everything is being ripped out from under you. The conditions in which they had to live in the following days, so harsh and bleak. Yet despite it all, his family (as did many in real life) pulled together staying strong for each other, ensuring that they knew things would turn out okay.  There's a scene where they are floating along the city streets and come across a dog stranded as much as they. It brought a tear to my eye when they had to leave him to his own means in order to survive themselves (no worries readers, sir puppy makes another appearance later on...no harm done). It's just amazing to see the strength of the people from this below-sea-level city in the face of such odds.

So many people were affected by this natural disaster and still are to this day. The author did a wonderful job of sharing life from within the storm in a voice that could share the fear of what was happening, the uncertainty of things to come, and the hope that was kept alive by a community that refused to surrender. Take this powerful story and combine it with the artistic renderings throughout  book and you have a work perfect for readers of all ages to understand these events more clearly.  Special thanks to the great folks at Peachtree Publishers (http://www.peachtree-online.com) for the review copy. (THANKS!) This book was published the end of August 2011 so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf near you. For more information on the publisher, be sure to check out their website, blog, or follow along on Twitter (http://twitter.com/PeachtreePub or http://twitter.com/EmRivet).  Special note...a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book from bother the publisher and the author/illustrator is being donated to the Norman Mayer Library in Gentilly, New Orleans....the same area Louis is from in the story.  Need a better reason to seek this one out?  I thought not. ^_^

Until next time....happy reading!