Blowin’ in the wind ( and storm)
Nick Courage’s second novel, “Storm Blown,” tells the tale of megastorm Valerie — a massive, fairly realistic hurricane in the Atlantic that the fictional reporters in the novel call la tormenta del siglo or “the storm of the century.” Using a braided, nonlinear plot line, the story moves mostly between Puerto Rico and New Orleans and focuses on two characters: Alejandro ( Alejo) and Emily.
After Alejo struggles to save his Padrino Nando, from the hurricane in Puerto Rico, a Puerto Rican news crew haphazardly brings him to New Orleans where Emily is hiding on her newly explored island at the storm’s soon- to- be Ground Zero, oblivious to the superstorm fast approaching.
Her family cannot reach Emily. So her sick brother, Elliot, freshly stitched and still recovering from cancer, sneaks out to find her. When things go wrong, Emily actually finds Elliot and they meet Alejo. As the earth floods and falters around them, the three kids fight to make it out of Valerie alive.
The last 75 pages of this middle school narrative make it a worthy read for audiences of all ages. It’s so suspenseful and spirited that physical copies of the book may be harmed by how rigorously anxious readers tear through the final pages. It’s a contrast to the first two- thirds of the narrative that swirl around in repetitive, anticipatory circles.
“Storm Blown” is well- written and appropriate for a young reader with a good attention span. It’s progressive ( both the president and vice president are referred to with female pronouns), the language is simple, and descriptions such as “spitting clamshell gravel in his wake” conjure clear images.
It’s not surprising that Nick Courage wrote this book. A resident of Pittsburgh and Brooklyn who is originally from New Orleans, he knows heavy rains, hurricanes and flooding. He knows
damage and disaster, and he’s written on the subject before. His debut novel, “The Loudness,” detailed coastal recovery. “Storm Blown” details coastal destruction. These are important stories, especially now.
As Mr. Courage was writing this book in 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. A year later, 15 named storms and two major hurricanes — Florence and Michael — whipped across the Atlantic and battered America’s East Coast. Furthermore, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show an upward trend in extreme weather events, and a 2016 report by the American Meteorological Society linked that trend to climate change.
Mr. Courage wants young readers to know this. In the author’s note at the end of the book he writes: “… [ S] ome of the smartest scientists and researchers in the world have found that global climate change … has increased the strength and intensity of recent storms. Luckily for us, climate change is preventable. …”
That sentiment — hope — is well- woven into the novel. Emily and Alejo both regularly whisper, “Everything is going to be OK,” though they often feel afraid and helpless. Emily cries as frequently as Alejo sleeps, because Emily can’t keep Elliot healthy, and Alejo can’t keep Nando safe. Yet they remain remarkably resilient. Alejo repeatedly goes back into the storm, and Emily trudges out each day to her little island.
This is fairly typical of novels aimed at young readers: The kids are always more independent and capable than they are typically allowed to be in real life ( think “The Magic Tree House” series). And it might be smart to write characters this way for an adolescent audience, but for an adult reader it begs the question, “Where are the parents/ guardians?” and reads almost as a rebuke of authority.
To be clear, the children in “Storm Blown” seem to love their parental figures. Alejo literally braves a hurricane to reunite with Nando and Emily greets her mother with open arms. But Nando leaves Alejo with the staff at the resort where he works, making far less of an effort to keep in contact with Alejo than Alejo does with him, and Emily vanishes for hours at a time without her mother even asking where she’s going. One night she doesn’t return until after midnight with only a friendly goose the wiser.
Birds in the novel, more than parents, are often shown as protectors. Emily’s goose honks and hisses at anyone who comes near her, and Alejo often thinks, “As long as there were birds in the waves, San Juan would be fine.” Many times, Mr. Courage even draws parallels between the kids and birds, showing them as capable of “flying” even against strong winds.
“Storm Blown” won’t blow anyone away, but it offers a bit of fun and suspense to older readers and knowledge and inspiration to the younger ones. And isn’t that really what middle school books are meant to do?