![]() ![]() The spare but vivid prose, lilting dialogue, and skilled storytelling brings this tragedy to life the powerful sense of community Rhodes evokes in the Ninth Ward prior to the storm makes the devastation and the hardships Lanesha endures all the more powerful. The story becomes gripping as the waters rise and Lanesha, with help from a young neighbor and her mother’s ghostly presence, finds a way to keep body and soul together. Lanesha finds strength in Mama Ya-Ya’s constant love and axioms of affection and reassurance (“When the time’s right. Living in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Lanesha is viewed as an unusual child (she was born with a caul and is able to see ghosts) and is ostracized at school. Lanesha lives with Mama Ya-Ya, an 82-year-old seer and midwife who delivered Lanesha and has cared for her since her teenage mother died in childbirth. Jewell is the Piper Endowed Chair and founding artistic director of the Virginia G. A good title for discussion when balanced with historical accounts of Katrina and her aftermath. Unfortunately, though, romanticized depictions such as this one threaten to undermine our collective sense of the true plight of pre- and post-Katrina Ninth Ward residents. ![]() ![]() Her books have won awards such as the American Book Award and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award for Literary Excellence. Rhodes’s characters are likable and her story gripping. Katrina and the subsequent flooding through the eyes of resourceful 12-year-old Lanesha. Jewell Parker Rhodes is an award-winning author of adult literature. With a mix of magical and gritty realism, Rhodes’s (Voodoo Dreams) first novel for young readers imagines Hurricane ![]()
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