Tag Archive | disaster

G is for two girls, connected through time by THE MAILBOX TREE, by Rebecca Lim and Kate Gordon (MG fiction) #AtoZ

Apr8
book cover of The Mailbox Tree, by Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon; shows leaf-filled silhouettes of two girls' heads looking down from upper corners to the outline of a large pine tree whose base is being flooded by water.

Just one tree remains,
a hope, a haven,
best place to leave a message.

Nyx wants to stay! She doesn’t care that rising sea levels threaten Tasmania, or that Dad wants to move to the Northland, or that solar radiation means no food can grow here. She escapes to the only tree left, pours her rage and sadness into the only scrap of paper she has left, and puts it in the knothole.

Bea wants to stay! She doesn’t think she’ll be less-bullied at school for her glasses and hearing loss if they move from Tasmania to Australia. Escaping to her favorite tree which never judges her, she pulls her notebook from the knothole and finds a scrap of paper with a message! So Bea writes back to the girl who also wants to stay here…

The next day, Nyx finds a book filled with blank pages of real paper in the tree – and a message from another girl who doesn’t want to move away from their island – so she writes back.

As the two tweens exchange messages via their Mailbox Tree, they realize that they live in the same place, but not the same time!

Nyx asks Bea to plant trees all around, hoping that some will survive the 50 years between their times. The trees appear overnight in Nyx’s neighborhood – a miracle?!

But Nyx also faces bushfires and storms and no electricity and no drinking water and no food supplies…

Can Bea do anything to help her friend fifty years away survive?
What place would be safe from natural and climate disasters for such a long time?
Will anyone believe Bea’s story about the Mailbox Tree and what they must do, quickly?

Told in alternating chapters by authors in Tasmania and Australia (“the Northland”), who have never met in real life either!

What message would you send back to our past?
**kmm

Book info: The Mailbox Tree / Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon. Walker Books Australia, 2024. [Rebecca’s site https://annabelbarker.com/rebecca-lim] [Kate’s site https://kategordon.com.au/bio/] [US publisher site https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/24700] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

Can she OUTRUN THE MOON & fate through education or luck? by Stacey Lee (YA book review)

Jul5
book cover of Outrun the Moon, by Stacey Lee. Published by Penguin | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Mercy wants better for her little brother than backbreaking laundry work, but she needs more education than their poor middle school can offer so she can start a business.

The teen negotiates her way into a semester scholarship at St. Clare’s School for Girls, the best in 1906 San Francisco, determined to brave anti-Chinese prejudice on the way to her dreams.

In return, Mercy promises snobby Elodie’s father a meeting with the Benevolent Association to apply for permission to sell his very fine chocolates in Chinatown…

Oh, how she longs to help her boyfriend Tom find his way into the sky instead of becoming an herbalist doctor like his father!

What if the headmistress decides Mercy isn’t worthy to be at St. Clare’s?
What if the Benevolent Association won’t consider their request?
What does her mother see when she foretells their futures?

Earthquake! The St. Clare’s girls escape to Golden Gate Park and, with Mercy’s practical skills, try to help others fleeing collapsed buildings and fires.

Her family! Their families! What now?

Outstanding historical fiction from the author of The Downstairs Girl (recommended here).

Are you prepared for a natural disaster?
**kmm

Book info: Outrun the Moon / Stacey Lee. Penguin, hardcover 2016, paperback 2017. [author Facebook] [publisher site] Personal collection; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Who survives the dangerous waters? Adventurous tales to read with your ears! (audiobook recommendations)

Jun8

Deep dives, perilous seas, and wild water in this week’s free AudioSYNC audiobooks

Download either or both audiobooks into your Sora shelf by Wednesday 14 June 2023, then listen to them whenever you like, as long as you keep them on your Sora shelf.

You can sign up for a free Sora account and see the entire AudioSYNC season here.

Time to set sail, weigh anchor, brave the briny deeps!

CD cover of Fractured Tide, by Leslie Lutz | Read by Chloe Dolandis. Published by Blink

Fractured Tide (free Sora download 6/8-6/14/23)
by Leslie Lutz | Read by Chloe Dolandis
Published by Blink

Expert diver Sia is one of the few survivors when their charter boat exploring a local shipwreck is destroyed by a monstrous creature!

The teen’s dictated letters to her incarcerated father note their efforts to get off the island… if she can.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/184815/fractured-tide-by-leslie-lutz-read-by-chloe-dolandis/

clipart swirling lines http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159
CD cover of Hurricane Song: a Novel of New Orleans, by Paul Volponi | Read by Jacob Norman. Published by Brilliance Audio

Hurricane Song: a Novel of New Orleans (free Sora download 6/8-6/14/23)
by Paul Volponi | Read by Jacob Norman
Published by Brilliance Audio

Katrina forces high schooler Miles, his dad, and his uncle to take shelter in the Superdome.

As food and medical supplies dwindle, violence and danger grow – will they make it through this hurricane?

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/44047/hurricane-song-by-paul-volponi-read-by-jacob-norman/

What’s your relationship to weather and the sea?
**kmm

divider clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159

I’m determined, strong, anxious – DON’T CALL ME A HURRICANE, by Ellen Hagan (YA book review)

Jun7
book cover of Don't Call Me a Hurricane, by Ellen Hagan. Published by Bloomsbury | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Five years since the hurricane,
end of childhood bliss,
more changes ahead…

Eliza’s Italian-American family rebuilt shore-side, but most year-rounders on their New Jersey island sold to developers and moved inland.

Summer before their senior year, Eliza and best friend Isa are lifeguards watching over families and surfers, worrying about the nature preserve being sold, doing what they can as climate activists (maybe going a little too far sometimes).

She usually steers clear of the summer people, but grudgingly agrees to teach city boy Milo how to surf since he’ll be here with dad and stepmom all summer.

Her therapist is trying to help the 17 year old unravel her anxiety about hurricane season, to quiet the litany of climate disaster that keeps Eliza up all night.

Milo wants to help the climate justice group – is he sincere or just trying to get closer to Eliza?

What can they do to save the nature preserve from developers with money, money, money?

Flashbacks to the hurricane’s wrath punctuate this stunning novel-in-verse examining changes and challenges.

How has climate change affected your community?
**kmm

Book info: Don’t Call Me a Hurricane / Ellen Hagan. Bloomsbury, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

IT’S A WHOLE SPIEL: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories, edited by Katherine Locke & Laura Silverman (YA book review)

May30
book cover of It's a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories, edited by Katherine Locke & Laura Silverman. Published by Alfred A. Knopf | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Feeling too Jewish or not Jewish enough at school, summer camp, at another family’s Seder dinner, on a Birthright trip to Israel in college…

In this short story collection, young adults embrace, question, and reexamine their Jewish faith as it connects (or doesn’t) to their childhood, their family, their sexual identity, their now, and their future.

Raysh hopes to overcome her fear of drowning (again) in “He Who Revives the Dead”, while Miri’s first meeting with her new boyfriend’s parents is interrupted by an earthquake and “Aftershocks.”

Short stories by Dahlia Adler, Adi Alsaid, David Levithan, Elie Lichtschein, Katherine Locke, Alex London, Goldy Moldavsky, Hannah Moskowitz, Matthue Roth, Lance Rubin, Dana Schwartz, Laura Silverman, Rachel Lynn Solomon, and Nova Ren Suma.

“Judaism is about seeing the world for what it is and being part of a community that is greater than the sum of its parts,” reminds actress Mayim Bialik in the foreword.

Each story in this anthology is one of those parts, a vivid and varied kaleidoscope of experiences, meeting new people, and watching old friends change.

Find the print version or ebook at a library near you with WorldCat.

What part of yourself do you share with a new friend?
**kmm

Book info: It’s a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories / edited by Katherine Locke & Laura Silverman. Alfred A. Knopf / Random House, 2019. [Katherine’s site] [Laura’s site] [publisher site] Personal copy; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Classic tales retold for modern listeners (audiobook recommendations)

May4

Week two of AudioSYNC season brings us re-imagined classic tales.

Download either or both of these professionally produced audiobooks into your Sora shelf by Wednesday- free!

FAQs on getting a Sora free account and the entire AudioSYNC season here.

Now, on to this week’s selections, to read with your ears!

CD cover of The Family Chao, by Lan Samantha Chang | Read by Brian Nishii. Published by Recorded Books

The Family Chao (free Sora download 5/4-10/23)
by Lan Samantha Chang | Read by Brian Nishii
Published by Recorded Books

After 35 years as restaurant owners, their Wisconsin town still considers the Chao family as outsiders. When the patriarch is found dead, his three sons go on trial for his murder! A retelling of The Brothers Karamazov.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/210657/the-family-chao-by-lan-samantha-chang-read-by-brian-nishii/

CD cover of Faraway: Fairy Tales for the Here and Now, by Rainbow Rowell, Nic Stone, Soman Chainani, Ken Liu, Gayle Forman. Published by Brilliance Audio

Faraway: Fairy Tales for the Here and Now (free Sora download 5/4-10/23)
by Rainbow Rowell, Nic Stone, Soman Chainani, Ken Liu, Gayle Forman | Read by Rebecca Lowman, Kate Rudd, Robin Eller, Alexander Cendese, Timothy Andrés Pabon, Andrew Eiden, Michael Crouch, Neil Shah, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Graham Halstead, Jess Nahikian, Frankie Corzo, Josh Bloomberg, Greg Chun, Brian Holden, Kimberly Woods, Ryan Jordan McCarthy
Published by Brilliance Audio

Five modernized fairy tales: “The Prince and the Troll” with the so-captivating voice; “Hazel and Gray” in love in a dangerous forest (Hansel & Gretel with a twisty twist); “The Princess Game” with many suspects interviewed by the police; “The Cleaners” of others’ memories, but not skilled in their replacement; “The Wickeds” as in wicked stepmothers – plural!

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/193263/faraway-by-rainbow-rowell-nic-stone-soman-chainani-ken-liu-gayle-forman-read-by-rebecca-lowman-kate-rudd/

What audiobooks on the AudioSYNC summer list are you looking forward to most?
**kmm

divider clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159

In a world GONE DARK, the prepper skills she longs to forget may save them, by Amanda Panitch (YA book review)

Nov17
book cover of Gone Dark, by Amanda Panitch. Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books /Simon & Schuster | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Forget how she got away,
just think of the future,
till it all goes dark.

Zara and her mom have a better life in southern California, five years gone since they escaped from her father’s survivalist compound back east.

Computer games instead of skinning squirrels? What teen girl wouldn’t leave behind such a hard life? But her father’s voice still echoes that the world is ending soon… no wonder Zara has panic attacks.

Then the sporadic power outages become a nationwide blackout, and civilized behavior vanishes, just like Dad predicted. When a huge stranger barges into their darkened house and calls for Zara by name, the 17 year old knows it’s time to leave.

Unable to get Mom to safety, Zara and her best friends head away from the coast, trying to outrun the threatening stranger and avoid danger on the road.

A Mormon fortress welcomes them, but can they ever leave?
More people join the group as they travel – can they stay safe together?
If they reach the hidden compound, can they survive its border traps?

This future where the electric grid fails large-scale could be tomorrow, just like the difficulties that Zara and friends endure in a world gone dark.

What’s your emergency plan for disasters?
**kmm

Book info: Gone Dark / Amanda Panitch. Margaret K. McElderry Books /Simon & Schuster, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Q is for questions & quarrels TANGLED UP IN LUCK, by Merrill Wyatt (MG book review) #A2Z

Apr20
book cover of Tangled Up in Luck, by Merrill Wyatt. Published by Margaret McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Two weeks till summer break!
Start a special class project?!
Now? Why? Hidden jewels!

Learn to work together, find things that aren’t on the internet – the seventh graders aren’t too happy to have different assignment partners or go through old newspaper articles at the library for this project.

Find the lost jewels hidden in the late 1880s when Jacob Hoal’s partner Thomas dynamited the safe and jumped on a train – the same train that collided with Jacob and Lucretia’s train, killing them and leaving an orphan son!

Volleyball star Sloane gets paired with class eccentric Amelia – arguing in the town library, sneaking around the historical museum – this won’t be easy as old grudges make the girls wary of each other.

A circus gone bankrupt, a Stock Market wizard, explosion at the mansion, a manhunt through Ohio and beyond, then the fatal train crash – newspaper articles tell the story, but what information is missing?

Their classmates are using the same resources (bad luck), so Sloane and Amelia check the museum and find old timers to interview (good luck), getting a little less uncomfortable around each other as they go.

Did Thomas take the jewels on the train with him?
What happened to the orphaned son?
Why are the kids working on this complicated project right now?

As Sloane frets about her widowed father remarrying and Amelia dreads going home to her ultra-competitive family, they don’t yet realize the danger they’ll face if they solve the mystery!

What local historical event still has people talking in your area?
**kmm

Book info: Tangled Up in Luck (Tangled Mysteries, book 1) / Merrill Wyatt. Margaret McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, 2021. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

BEYOND ME, the earth shakes and trembles, by Annie Donworth-Chikamatsu (MG book review)

Mar11
book cover of Beyond Me, by Annie Donworth-Chikamatsu. Published by Caitlyn Dlouhy Books /Atheneum | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Fifth grade almost done,
cramming for junior high entrance exams,
wait… what’s happening under our feet?!

Buildings and trains and children in Japan are well-prepared for earthquakes because small tremors happen all the time.

But on March 11, 2010, the earth shook and shook, halting choir practice for 11-year-old Maya and her classmates, sending them home with worried parents and grandparents.

Maya’s American mother works from home, her great-grandparents are next door, best friend Yuka lives just down the lane.

The epicenter was far away in Japan’s north, followed by a massive tsunami that struck a nuclear electricity plant – oh, the devastation! Maya is heart-sick, feeling dizzy even when the earth isn’t moving – what can she do to help the people of the northeast?

There are aftershocks even down here and continuing worries about losing electricity, damage to railroads, having enough drinking water. Father finally reaches them after walking 20 miles from his office in Tokyo!

Maya’s mother begins organizing relief efforts for the northeast, working on her computer at home under the big table during tremors.

She shows Maya the paper crane project started by American students who are sending messages of support. Together, Maya and Yuka decide to fold 1000 paper cranes for hope, like Sadako.

As end-of-school events are postponed again and again, Maya and Father work with Great-grandfather in the vegetable field, glad to be outdoors as summer begins, to grow food for their neighbors, to be together as tremors continue.

Will her sixth-grade year begin on time?
What if the Big Earthquake hits here?
Why is this strange cat coming into her house?

This novel in verse uses unique typesetting patterns to show Maya’s fright and confusion during the quake and its many aftershocks, large and small.

Today marks 12 years since this event – have you ever experienced an earthquake?
**kmm

Book info: Beyond Me / Annie Donworth-Chikamatsu. Caitlyn Dlouhy/ Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020, paperback 2021. [author site] [publisher site] Personal copy; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Lost daughter or just a HOMEWRECKER? by Deanna Cameron (book review)

Jan31
book cover of Homewrecker, by Deanna Cameron. Published by Wattpad Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Stormy life,
grown up too fast,
Tornado! Where’s Mom?

When her druggie mom is swept away from their trailer park by a tornado, Brownyn is taken in by the family of her long-estranged father, now a rich and powerful senator.

The 17 year old always knew that her birth after David’s short separation from his wife was an accident, hushed up as he rose from young lawyer to the Senate – only once as a kid did she meet his family.

She’s stunned now by their casual wealth, the summer home on the lake, and being accepted by her stepmom and four half-siblings. They’ve always known about her?

Mom’s body is finally found, but she was strangled before the tornado hit! David’s influence keeps the investigation going, even as the media blares out Bronwyn as his secret love-child.

So she’ll get out and meet people, she now works with half-sister Andi (one grade older, YouTube makeup guru deluxe) at the drive-in movie theater. Teenager Ethan next door takes care of their garden, and Bronwyn shares her plant knowledge with him.

But she misses her friends at home, doesn’t think the detectives are really trying to solve Mom’s murder, and decides it’s time to go do some sleuthing herself – Ethan’s more than willing to roadtrip with her.

Was Mom killed over drug money or something else?
How will Bronwyn fit in at a new rich-kid school?
Why is David’s family so nice to her…really?

Secrets old and new collide as the teen struggles to become part of a real family instead of the only responsible person at home.

What long-lost kid story is your favorite?
**kmm

Book Info: Homewrecker / Deanna Cameron. Wattpad Books, 2021. [author info] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.