Hurricane Katrina

April 1, 2014
Grades 4-6 Designed to give readers a sense of being caught in the 2005 disaster, this entry in the You Choose: Modern History series offers fact-based experiences of three fictional victims: a 10-year-old child living in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward; a small-business owner near Lake Pontchartrain; and a Biloxi firefighter. Readers are prompted to make choices for the POV character, such as whether to evacuate or stay at home, then skip pages to see what happens next. Some decisions lead to a character's death. The text is illustrated with small color photos of the storm and its aftermath. A set of discussion questions related to Common Core principles follows a final chapter summarizing the overall damage and some of the infrastructure improvements made in the hurricane's wake. Informative, and this could also stimulate personal emergency planning.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
This Choose Your Own Adventurestyle book provides three different paths for readers to follow (a child in the lower ninth ward, a store owner in the Lakeview neighborhood, or a firefighter in Biloxi). Though the information is limited, reluctant readers who enjoy the series hook will come away with a sense of the natural disaster. Photos help break up the text. Reading list, timeline. Bib., glos., ind.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)