Mississippi Library Association

Erin and Katrina

Sugg, Nan. Erin and Katrina. Illustrated by Becca Huber and Lauren Pope.
Jackson, MS: Acorn Hill Press, 2006.
29 pp. $19.90 (hardback)

Many young children around the country heard adults discussing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and children can read worry and fear in adults’ faces and voices. Even children who did not live in the areas hardest hit by the storm felt its effects. Erin and Katrina tells about one little girl living in an area far enough from the Gulf Coast that she didn’t lose her home, but close enough to the mammoth storm to be made afraid by the howling winds, the horizontal rain, the downed power lines, the temporary loss of electricity, and some downed trees. But Erin is safe with her parents, in a snug house, with food and water and emergency supplies. She goes to sleep that night in her own bed and wakes up in that bed the next morning to sunshine, neighborhood picnics while the power is out, and enough power tools among the neighbors to clean up the downed trees. Her main concern is for the birds and squirrels that have been displaced from their homes in the trees. Her parents gently guide her concern to the humans who also have been displaced, and involve her in gathering supplies to take to a shelter for storm refugees opened in their church building. She faces some hard sharing choices, but grows in making those choices. This book makes no age-inappropriate references to the horrendous death and destruction wrought by Katrina, but does introduce, at a young child’s level, some concept of the loss involved for those on the Gulf Coast. The emphasis is on sharing what one has with those who have less and on acting to do what one can in an emergency.
I recommend Erin and Katrina for addition to public libraries serving a population that includes families with children aged four to eight. The tone and style of the story will not appeal to all readers, but for families who rely on their religious faith in times of stress, it will be a good addition to a read-aloud collection. Only very proficient beginning readers could manage it alone, but it would provide good discussion ideas for parent-and-child, or teacher-and-small-group sharing. Some of the illustrations are a bit cartoonish, but those that zoom in on the wildlife and the power of the storm are very effective. All illustrations are bright and colorful and would probably capture the attention of young children.

Diane Schule
Director
Marshall County Library System

Entry Filed under: Book Reviews
Posted on: June 26th, 2008