Storm Blown

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday at Always in the Middle and #IMWAYR day at Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. It's also Nonfiction Monday.

Courage, Nick. Storm Blown
July 16th 2019 by Delacorte Press
E ARC provided by Netgalley

Emily lives in New Orleans with her mother and older brother, Elliot, who has been very sick. Her father works on offshore oil rigs. Emily is not happy that the most exciting thing about her summer is going to be reading My Side of the Mountain, because her mother is being overprotective of her brother and doesn't want Emily to have any fun! Alejo lives in Puerto Rico, where he helps his padrino (godfather) do yardwork at a fancy hotel. His mother lives in New York City but hasn't been able to send for him yet. Both children make poor choices when Megastorm Valerie starts to head toward both of their homes. Emily is concerned with some of the wild life in Audubon Park, and at some point even brings a turtle home with her. She misses hanging out with her brother and is angry at her mother, so when her mother is worried that Emily has a cold that could compromise Elliot's health, she's happy that her mother sends her off to stay with a friend... who has just left town. She hangs out in the park, sleeping in trees, and doesn't answer her mother's phone calls. Alejo is working at the hotel, and when the staff is told to evacuate, he stays behind, since he doesn't know where his padrino is. He even goes back to their apartment as the storm comes closer, and ignores the neighborhood women who are evacuating. Luckily, a reporter whose van he stole comes to his rescue in a helicopter. Alejo ends up in New Orleans, near where Emily is staying. Her father has driven through the storm, having been evacuated from the oil rig, and her mother is frantic that she can't find Emily, and that Elliot is also missing, having gone to look for his sister. A weather service crew is in the process of evacuating, and tries to reunite Emily and her parents, but it's touch and go. Eventually, everyone makes it to safety, but it is a harrowing trip to get there!
Strengths: There have not been a lot of storm survival books lately; after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there were a few, mostly involving dogs, but those are now all historical fiction! This was more interesting, because there were lots of weather details about the storm mixed in with lots of action and survival. While survival books aren't wildly popular in my library, there is always a need for new ones. The storm depicted is a fictional one, but the details are reflective of weather events students see in the news all the time.
Weaknesses: I did not like either Emily or Alejo, since their foolish, selfish actions put so many people in danger! I also could have done without the chapters from the birds' point of view, but those are both purely personal preferences.
What I really think: I will definitely purchase this title to hand this to readers of Smith's Storm Runners or Messner's Eye of the Storm. The cover is fantastic, and the this has a timeless feel that will give it a long shelf life.