Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Boy and dog face danger, find friends in fast-paced tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Twelve-year-old New Hampshire boy Zane Dupree never knew his African-American father, who died in an accident before he was born, and his mom has never been able to find any of his paternal relatives. That all changes thanks to a website that connects them with his great-grandmother in New Orleans, who had raised his dad back in the day. He reluctantly agrees to spend the last week of summer with her in New Orleans, but only if his beloved dog Bandy gets to come along. Unbeknownst to any of them, Hurricane Katrina's bearing down on the city, and Zane's barely had a chance to get acquainted with Miss Trissy before they have to flee for their lives with her pastor in the church van. When a terrified Bandy leaps out the window, Zane instinctively goes after him, and soon the two are trapped in Miss Trissy's house as the floodwaters rise.
Is It Any Good?
In ZANE AND THE HURRICANE: A STORY OF KATRINA, author Rodman Philbrick follows his successful formula of placing an appealingly real young character in the midst of momentous events. While the story is fast-paced and full of peril, it's also packed with local culture, from music and jazz funerals to complex racial history. Zane's adventures, drawn from real-life experiences of Katrina survivors -- from raw sewage and dead bodies everywhere to cops and vigilantes shooting on sight -- may provoke some interesting discussion of why things came to such a pass, and why much of the city remained in dire straits years later.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about disaster preparedness. What kinds of natural disasters are likely in your area? Does your family have a disaster plan -- and a backup if things don't go according to plan?
Why do you think disasters are such a popular theme in stories? What other disaster stories do you know about, and how does this one compare?
What do you know about Hurricane Katrina? Do you know any people who survived the disaster? What were their experiences?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Historical Fiction
- Topics : Adventures , Animals , Friendship , History
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Blue Sky Press
- Publication date : February 25, 2014
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 10 - 14
- Number of pages : 192
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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