Hurricane Song is a story about a father and son in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. I picked this up off the new books display at the local library and wow. This is a difficult book to read, but one that I imagine will become more popular as we move on from Hurricane Katrina.
Miles is living with his dad, a jazz musician, in New Orleans when Katrina hits. They evacuate to the Superdome when their car breaks down on the freeway out of town. Their experiences in the Superdome are absolutely horrific. I found myself having to put the book down sometimes because it was so difficult to read. Powerful and important, I can see this becoming a part of high school or college reading in the future, when the pain from Katrina isn’t so fresh.
Be aware, this is not a middle grades book. It is definitely YA, due to language and the things that Miles and his family experience. I would even recommend this to adults, due to the power of Volponi’s descriptions of this national, natural disaster.
Filed under: reviews, YA Tagged: | hurricane katrina novel, hurricane song, paul volponi
I actually found myself physically getting nervous as I read about their experiences in the dome. My heart was racing, my palms were sweating, and I had to put it down and tell myself, “You are NOT there! Stop freaking out!”
Thanks for the kind words about Hurricane Song. In Feb, I will have a novel out called Response, based on a real-life NYC hate crime. I hope you will read it. –Paul Volponi