TBF Teens Read

Hi my name is Erica Lee and I am a graduate student in the Literacy Education program at Nazareth College.  I am mostly interested in teaching younger children and my favorite subject to teach is Science.  I love to read books and recently found a book that caught my eye at the library called Hurricane.  The cover of the book is what first grabbed my attention because it had palm trees swaying violently on the cover and I just had to know what the story was about.  The author, Terry Trueman, also wrote Stuck In Neutral and is one of the many fantastic authors that will be at this year’s Teen Book Festival.  If you have not read any of his books yet, I suggest you start with Hurricane.

Hurricane is a great book and I would recommend it to any reader!  This book is based on a true story of Hurricane Mitch’s devastation in the Honduras in 1998.  The book is not too long, about 134 pages, and is full of suspense to keep you interested.  It is about a small town in the Honduras called La Rupa.  La Rupa is home to twelve families until a major Hurricane comes and their small town is hit with a mudslide ruining houses and killing many people. The main character Jose has to find the courage to search for his neighbors, food, and clean water in the midst of the wreckage.  Can you imagine being only 13 years old and dealing with all that responsibility?  As Jose tries to put his town back together, he also worries about his dad, brother, sister, and dog who have been missing since the hurricane and the reader is also left wondering what happens to them until the very last chapter.  I really liked this book because it continued to surprise me as I learned about more of the damage from the hurricane and I loved how the book gave me a firsthand glimpse at what it would be like to live through a natural disaster.  Even after reading this book I had to know more about Hurricane Mitch and continued to wonder about the true experiences of the Honduran people during this time.

“Suddenly there is a tremendous explosion, like the world is cracking in two.  All the lights below me go out, and I can’t tell if I am flying or falling in the darkness. The wild parrots disappear.  I hear a strange, distant sound of crying and moaning.  In the darkness, just waking up from my dream, I am confused.  The earth quivers under my bed.”

 Click here to find this book at a library near you!