Chasing Helicity

Zee, Ginger. Chasing Helicity
April 24th 2018 by Disney Hyperion

ARC provided by publisher at ALA

Helicity's grandmother was a decorated physicist, and she got a name of a scientific phenomenon to honor her. (It was either that or Doris!) When a tornado hits her hometown during a party honoring her brother's football scholarship, Helicity's home is destroyed and her brother is injured. A meterologist, Lana McElvoy, comes to town asking if people have videos of the storm, which irritates people, since seven people from the town perished. Helicity sends a photo, and combined with her name, this interests Lana.  Helicity loves science, but her grades are not quite good enough to get into honors science classes in high school, so she is very surprised when Lana asks her to join her storm team. Andy is having a difficult time recovering, although the family and town seem to recover fairly well. Helicity is glad to be a part of the team, and her adventures in storm chasing get off to a rousing start.
Strengths: This is a good length and moves quickly. I like the idea of the STEM connections, and tornado devastation is a timely topic.
Weaknesses: I had trouble believing that Helicity's parents would just send her off to travel with Lana, especially given their recent experiences.
What I really think: Storm books are a bit of a tough sell, even ones like Bishop's 14 Hollow Road which seemed like a much more informative book about dealing with the aftermath of a tornado. I had friends who lost their home in the 1980 Grand Island, Nebraska tornado, and it was quite traumatic! I was sure the brother was going to become addicted to opioids, which worried me, but he didn't. I will probably pass, especially since this is going to be a series.