Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere

Locations
Call Number: Y Fiction / Lamana, Julie
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	Y Fiction / Lamana, Julie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	Y Fiction / Lamana, Julie	4-week checkout	On Shelf

At the end of August 2005, ten-year-old Armani is looking forward to her birthday party in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where she and her extended family live, but Hurricane Katrina is on the way, bringing destruction and tragedy in its wake.

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A child's witness to disaster submitted by FordAlpha on July 18, 2018, 9:02pm It's hard to believe that the horrors of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath are already part of the history books, a before-I-was-born event to the middle-grade readers this book is aimed at. Julie Lamana keeps that history fresh with a child's perspective, beautifully voiced and richly layered. The story begins with the everyday school, neighborhood, and family dramas of a young girl in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. A savvy reader can see the pieces being moved into place for the coming tragedy: a baby brother with severe asthma; a best friend with an alcoholic father; an Army vet uncle with PTSD; an aging grandmother with heart trouble. But Armani can see only her loving family and her coming birthday party. There are moments of heart-stopping danger and chaos, moments of poetic loveliness, moments of confusion and despair, and moments of transcendent triumph. There are some real surprises, a lot of grief, and a lot of hope and catharsis.