Flood - Hardcover

Calhoun, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688139191 ISBN 13: 9780688139193

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1997

Synopsis

One fictional Midwestern family is forced to leave their home during the flooding of the Mississippi River in 1993

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4. In this fictional account of the Midwest flood of 1993, Sarajean and her family are determined to remain in their home when the Mississippi River overflows its banks. They take provisions to the top floor, but when the levee breaks, they are forced to seek shelter from the raging river with relatives who live on higher ground. Calhoun convincingly portrays young Sarajean's ambivalence?her excitement at seeing her beloved Mississippi at its most majestic and joining the adults in their sandbagging efforts, and her nagging uneasiness about the impending flood and being separated from her dog. Ingraham's illustrations, executed in acrylic paints and pastels, are large, befitting such a big subject, and often spill over onto a facing page. Colors are muted, evoking a landscape and a people washed out by months of unrelenting rain. The characters are sturdy, grim-faced folk, and their bearing suggests that they are used to hardship and have the will to overcome it. In a reassuring yet unsentimental conclusion, Sarajean and her family take comfort in being together and safe, even though they have lost their possessions. An epilogue provides readers with facts about the devastating flood. Carole G. Vogel's The Great Midwest Flood (Little, Brown, 1995) is a nonfiction treatment of the same topic.?Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community-Technical College, CT
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 4^-9. Powerful in its understatement, this dramatic picture book tells of a young midwestern girl and her family who lose their home in the 1993 flooding of the Mississippi River. The storytelling is quiet, but it is tightly paced as it moves inexorably to the climax. At first Sarajean finds it exciting as the river rises and rises, and everyone works to build up the levee, and her dad loads the pickup with sandbags to stack against the house. Should they stay? Grandma is adamant that she won't leave home, so they empty out the first floor and move upstairs, until finally the levee breaks, the town is drowning, and they must move to their relatives' place on higher ground. Ingraham's pastel pencil and watercolor illustrations are extraordinary, both the sweeping views of the stormy midwestern landscape and the interior close-up scenes of the family facing their loss together. Much of Sarajean's narrative focuses on Grandma, and the view of the elderly woman clutching her photo albums in a boat in the early morning light is a telling image of the natural disaster. Just as moving is the unspoken drama of Sarajean's parents. In their taut faces around the kitchen table you can see what isn't said: their heartbreak and their bond. Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0688139191
• ISBN 13: 9780688139193
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Ingraham Erick