Module 5 - Coretta Scott King Honor



Rhodes, J. (2010). Ninth Ward.
New York, NY: Little Brown Books for Young Readers.

 Summary:
A Coretta Scott King Honor book is realistic fiction.  It was written about a family and friends during Hurricane Katrina. The main characters are a 12 year old girl and her elderly caretaker, Mama Ya-Ya, who is raising her. They ride out Hurricane Katrina helping each other through this tragic event in their lives. This book offers some realistic insight into the people who survived this event their close knit family ties and close knit community they live in, the Ninth Ward.  Many of these people were too poor to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina and must rely on each other.


My Impression:
Author Jewell Parker Rhodes shares the story of a 12 year old girl and her Mama Ya-Ya, who has been raising her since she became an orphan when her teenage mother died in childbirth.  Rhodes showes the closeness of the two main characters and the close ties the neighbors have with one another.  The events of the evacuation and the hurricane along with the breaking of the levies seem very realistic.  A great story that tells of close family ties and friendship that is true to this culture and community.


I visited this same area about a year after the hurricane and saw much of the devistation that was still there.  This brought the events of this novel to life.


Reviews:
Ninth Ward
School Library Journal

Gr 5-8--Hurricane Katrina is whirling toward New Orleans in this touching novel (Little, Brown, 2010) by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Twelve-year-old Lanesha is a confident loner in her Ninth Ward neighborhood. Other kids tend to avoid her because she has the sight--she sees ghosts--and casually ignores them. Lanesha concentrates on her studies. She loves math, words, her teachers, and above all things, midwife Mama Ya-Ya who took her in when her mother died giving birth. Lanesha has snooty light-skinned uptown relatives, but they abandoned her to the loving care of Mama Ya-Ya. Lanesha watches in amazement as her beloved Ninth Ward prepares for the storm of the century. Fortitude, a vocabulary word Lanesha relishes, will be necessary to see her through the storm. After Mama Ya-Ya dies, Lanesha must be brave and save herself and her best friend when the water begins to rise. Sisi Aisha Johnson, a gifted narrator, brings richness and texture to each character and her performance emanates with the humor, warmth, and grace of this fine story. This 2011 Coretta Scott King Honor Book is not to be missed.

Melgaard, T. (2011). Ninth Ward. School Library Journal, 57(3), 77.

Kirkus Reviews

10-14 years--Born with a caul, 12-year-old Lanesha can see and sometimes communicate with spirits, and her guardian, former midwife Mama Ya-Ya, has dreams and visions that foretell the future. Their exquisitely happy, though poor, life in the New Orleans Ninth Ward is disrupted by news of a powerful storm approaching. Mama Ya-Ya knows it will get bad, but she has no means to get Lanesha out of the city. Knowing she herself will soon die, Mama Ya-Ya decides to wager that Lanesha's talents, both her supernatural skills and her more commonplace pluck and creativity, will see the young girl and her friend TaShon through Hurricane Katrina safely. The two children must confront not only the intense storm and Mama Ya-Ya's death but rapidly rising flood waters to survive. Rhodes's characters are likable and her story gripping. Unfortunately, though, romanticized depictions such as this one threaten to undermine our collective sense of the true plight of pre- and post-Katrina Ninth Ward residents. A good title for discussion when balanced with historical accounts of Katrina and her aftermath.

NINTH WARD. (2010). Kirkus Reviews, 78(14), 682.

Suggested Library Use:

This book could be used when studying historical fiction that is paired with a non-fiction book about Hurricane Katrina.  Students could compare and contrast the events of the two text.