Middle Grade Monday: Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Image: LBYR

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes. 224 p. Little, Brown Young Readers Group, August, 2010 9780316043076. (Own.)

Middle Grade Monday features Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Lanesha lives with Mama YaYa, her foster grandmother and has never known her parents. Mama YaYa has visions that always come true and she sees that a big storm is about to descend on New Orleans. That storm is Hurricane Katrina. Lanesha and Mama YaYa have nowhere to evacuate to so they stay put. When the levees break, the water quickly submerges Lanesha's house to its attic. This harrowing tale gives readers a sense of the catastrophe that was Hurricane Katrina. Ninth Ward was published in 2010. It was Ms. Parker Rhodes first novel for young readers.