about the book
They named her Katrina. She starts as just a swirling wind in Africa, and as she crosses the Atlantic, she picks up speed and force, just clipping Florida, killing three. By the time she hits New Orleans on August 29th, 2005, she is a 400-mile wide category five hurricane. At a roaring 155 mph, she is the worst of the worst national disasters.
This dark and ominous graphic novel tells her story and the story of those who survive her wrath. Her monstrous winds and surging water overwhelm the levees guarding the low-lying area and flood over eighty percent of New Orleans under twenty feet of water. The property loss tops a hundred billion dollars; the death toll is 1833. But more importantly, this graphic novel documents the nation’s failure to help those who faced the storm in New Orleans.
Officials knew in advance that Katrina might hit New Orleans, but the evacuation was sloppy. The railroad offered to transport civilians out of town, but officials decline, and five long empty trains leave the city! Twelve million people stuffed their belongings into vehicles and waited hours and hours on crammed highways to make their way out.
Readers will learn about the complicated events that took place during the hurricane and its aftermath. Using meticulously documented facts and quotes from victims, readers will live the terror of those who face the breached levees and the disgusting polluted waters, clinging to rooftops in desperation and despair.
It is the story of selflessness, heroism, and the great courage of disaster workers and ordinary people. It is also the story of indifference, incompetence, and criminal behavior. Officials fumbled relief efforts, and police actually participated in the looting. Everyone, including President George W. Bush, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) under the controversial Michael D. Brown, and the corrupt mayor, Ray Nagin, let the people down.
African Americans were hit the hardest. Now, more than ten years later, we know this weather disaster became a race disaster, a real category five. In its final pages, this graphic novel notes the rebuilding efforts and the lasting effects of a vastly decreased population. A portion of the proceeds from the book are donated to New Orleans Habitat for Humanity.
about the author/illustrator
Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Don Brown’s love of history stems back to his younger days. He received his Bachelor of Arts in History from St. Lawrence University. Most of Don’s characters are people who shaped history in some way, but were lesser-known subjects. He often centers a book on a single day or event.
Don always keeps a quote in mind as he starts to write and tries to use it in the book. He creates the text for the book first, and only after the text is set thinks of the art. He does feel the text and the art are equally important.
Don has held various careers throughout his lifetime: clam digger, washer-dryer repairman, waiter, and movie theater manager. Currently a full-time author and illustrator, he resides in Merrick, Long Island with his wife, Debra, and their two children.
Sources:
Author/Illustrator website
Day of Dialog: School Library Journal
Also by Don Brown:
The Great American Dust Bowl. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2013.
read more!
The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown
Starting with the 200-mile long duster that hit the American Great Plains in 1935, this graphic novel uses quotes, personal stories, and documented facts to work back in time, relating tales of the massive dust storms and explaining the causes of the Dust Bowl devastation and the decades-long economic upheaval that resulted.
Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan
The Dust Bowl has left Jack’s farm and the nearby town sitting on cracked earth and cloaked in clouds of grit. When Jack discovers a dark figure lurking in a nearby abandoned barn, he learns it is the Storm King, who refuses to release his rain until the people worship him as a god. What can one little boy do to save his town, farm, and family against such a powerful force of nature?