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Blog: drawboy's cigar box (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: illustration friday, kansas, digital art, oz, toto, tornado, dorothy, Patrick Girouard, Drawboy, Add a tag
Blog: Jen Robinson (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: female protagonist, Reviews, family, Young Adult, recovery, Newsletter, tornado, natural disaster, jennifer brown, Add a tag
Book: Torn Away
Author: Jennifer Brown
Pages: 288
Age Range: 12 and up
Torn Away by Jennifer Brown is about a teenage girl living in a small midwestern town who loses everything in a tornado. I hadn't read any of Brown's novels up to this point, though I was vaguely familiar with them (particularly Hate List, about a school shooting). She is known for taking on ripped from the headlines stories and making them stand out. I found Torn Away to be a definite page-turner, with gripping descriptions of the tornado and the devastation that it caused. It is a rather depressing book, but one that wrung a few tears out of me in the end.
Jersey is likable without being perfect (a bit pudgier than she might like, and one who prefers to stay behind the scenes, rather than be in the limelight). Prior to the tornado, she is frequently irritated by her irrepressible five year old half sister, Marin. She eventually comes to regret not being nicer to Marin when she had the chance. I personally found this point to be hammered at a tiny heavily. But it did make me resolve to be more patient with the irrepressible preschooler living in my own house. And I respected the author's decision not to sugar-coat Jersey's relationship with her sister. Teens are not always kind to their much-younger siblings - this is a fact of life. Other characters, even those that don't survive, are allowed not to be perfect, which is a big part of what makes the book work.
Jersey's experience after the tornado, when she is sent to live with her estranged father and his heinous family, is in some ways worse than the tornado itself. Brown's tone is somewhat matter of fact, rather than overly melodramatic, which helps to keep Torn Away from being too sad to bear. Here are a couple of snippets:
"Had I not know I was standing in my living room, I never would have guessed this was my house. The roof was completely missing. The whole thing. No holes or tears--gone. Some of the outside walls were also missing, and the remaining walls were in perilously bad conditions. One was leaning outward, the window blown and the frame hanging by a corner. Farther away, where the living room and the kitchen normally, met, the house just... ended." (Chapter Four, ARC).
"What the news crews couldn't show was the real damage Elizabeth's monster tornado had left behind. How do you record the wreckage left in someone's heart? I pulled out a piece of gum and popped it into my mouth, then smoothed out the foil. I found a pen on the nightstand and drew a picture of a big stick figure holding a little stick figure." (Chapter Eleven, ARC)
When I was a teenager, I would have adored this book. A natural disaster! A compelling plot full of terrible things happening to someone delightfully ordinary. Complex family relationships. Torn Away has a lot going for it. As an adult reader I enjoyed it, despite feeling the tiniest bit emotionally manipulated. My inkling to read Hate List has increased, in any case.
Torn Away is a book that I think will reach teen readers, and give them (at least for a little while) a new appreciation of their families. And perhaps they'll feel a bit more empathy towards the victims of natural disasters seen on the evening news.
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (@LBKids)
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Source of Book: Advance review copy from the publisher
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© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.
Blog: Monday's Balcony (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Misc, donate, Oklahoma, tornado, Mackin, Add a tag
Now is your chance to partner with a vendor who is stepping up to help libraries in Moore, OK. Funds4Books.com is an easy way to donate and help those affected by a tornado or other natural disaster.
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Blog: First Book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Tornado, Red Cross, disaster relief, Moore OK, Moore Oklahoma, Book Relief, Add a tag
Yesterday afternoon a massive tornado hit the town of Moore, just outside Oklahoma City. Dozens have been killed, hundreds injured and the town was nearly leveled. This is one of the most destructive tornadoes in the history of the United States and even more destructive weather is possible in the region over the next few days.
When a disaster like this hits, especially in schools and harming children as this did, we all look on, feeling empathy, wishing they could do something. Us too, here at First Book, watching the twitter feeds, the news, and holding our breath, hoping one more person will be found alive. The time will come to rebuild schools and provide books for schools whose home and school libraries were destroyed.
Until then, please join us in supporting the Red Cross in their disaster relief efforts. This organization is the front line to repair and support, not just those in Moore, OK, but all who need it most in the region over the next few days.
You can go online at www.redcross.org and donate. Call Red Cross at 1-800 REDCROSS. Text REDCROSS to 90999, to give $10, or click on the American Red Cross image on the left to donate.
The post Moore, Oklahoma – Our Hearts Are With You appeared first on First Book Blog.
Add a CommentBlog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Missouri, tornado, adopt a classroom, Joplin, adopt an eagle, tornado relief for joplin, book donations, Add a tag
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Missouri, tornado, Joplin, Joplin schools, Add a tag
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: science, environment, goodreads, giveaway, ecology, darcy's books, tornado, skunk, bison, Pattison, eco, blizzard, habitat, cougar, biome, prairie storms, K-3, Add a tag
Note: Fiction Notes is on vacation until August 1. See you then!
Last year, I interviewed Joelle Anthony about her use of a GoodReads giveaway to promote her book. One of her biggest reasons to go with GoodReads is that she had 1348 people enter the giveaway.
Here are some other interesting statistics from GoodReadshere and here:
- 21% of members have a book blog
- 750-785 people enter the average giveaway.
- 8% of those who enter will add the book to their to-read list.
- 50 books added to user’s TO-READ shelf
- 45% of the winners will review the book.
- 8 reviews (1% of entrants & 42% of winners)
Wow, that sounds good to me. Let’s try it!
So–ENTER! It’s FREE!
I’ll report back on the results of the giveaway after it closes on August 10.
Blog: de Helen's bits (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: tornado, Carmencita, Add a tag
Tornado, it is! And the first draft has been sent off to the musical director. She and I will discuss when she returns from her vaycay in a few days, casting will begin soon, and rehearsals will take place over the summer. Production most likely in October, but certainly in the fall. Very excited to have this happen.
Blog: Stacy A. Nyikos (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma, Houston, storm, tornado, high winds, Add a tag
I foolishly put off blogging on Wednesday because I was finishing a manuscript and all I could think about was said manuscript. Hopefully, I'll think of something to blog about by tomorrow, I hoped.
I think I hoped too hard. Tomorrow has come and with it, a majorly intense blog theme--high winds and tornadoes!
The sirens went off at 5 a.m. this morning just as we lost power. For the first time in our lives, we grabbed the kids and headed for the storm shelter we had dug under our garage floor about seven years ago. That is an almost unreal feeling, huddling together, listening to the winds howl just outside the garage door (which suddenly seemed very flimsy), feeling the kids shake, hearing the dog pant, and seeing nothing but pitch blackness.
Fortunately, we came out unscathed and the house is still standing, but in a direct line with our house, only a street away, three huge, 150 year old trees were ripped out of the ground and laid crosswise across the road and front lawns of our neighbors. They missed the houses, by inches, but still, they missed.
And these were, theoretically, only high winds. I have a feeling someone at the weather station missed a rotation, but who knows. I'm just glad we're all still standing.
I have experienced a tornado once before in my life--right behind my car as I was driving home. I wouldn't suggest trying this at home. I had just returned from Houston and had spent the better part of an hour in a holding pattern over Tulsa until the storm moved out. The landing was super bumpy, but okay. I hopped in my car to head home. Minutes from my house, the storm, which had abated, revved back up. Hail pummeled down. The sky was pitch black. And behind me I heard the sound of a jet engine. I have never been so scared in all of my life. I was right next to the river, where tornadoes like to strike in this area. I could barely see anything, the rain was falling so hard. By the time I got home, I was shaking. I think I know how Dorothy felt now.
If you're looking for a little weather excitement, look no further. Oklahoma is the place to be. Me? I'd settle for calm and sunny right now. I've had about all the excitement I'd can handle for a while, but oh the story ideas! Add a Comment
The devastation is simply heartbreaking. Glad your parents are okay!
Thanks, Heather. It really is something. I was amazed to see at the high school that a whole wall had been destroyed, but in some classrooms there were still papers on bulletin boards.
Impressive pictures. I donated through a friend who's family is from there. Tragedy makes us one.
I remember looking at the before and after pictures. Nature can be so destructive.
I was most impressed with the people of Joplin though. They have pulled together despite the hardship.
What incredible photos, and what a horrible disaster. So glad your parents are safe!
Wow. It never ceases to amaze me what nature can do.
I got a netGalley copy of May B. yesterday--SO EXCITED!! :-)
Gosh, I can't even imagine what that's like.
The pictures are just jaw-dropping. It's got to be so devastating to actually be there and see it in person, especially when your parents live so close by. So grateful they are fine!
Aren't they awful? And this was after a month of work. I'm so impressed and encouraged to see the community -- and outsiders -- come together to rebuild.
I'm excited about readers and writers reaching out to Joplin schools. There are some very simple ways we can make a difference.
This Net Galley business, I had no idea!
Every single time I see pictures of this, it blows me away!
Amy
Oh, it's so sad. The destruction can be rebuilt. It's the loss of life that kills me!