Hurricane Child

Caroline lives with her father in the U.S. Virgin Islands, gets bullied at school for being different, desperately wants answers for why her mother left and where she went, wonders about the spirits that follow her around but that no one else seems to be able to see, and falls in love with Kalinda,

Show More

the first friend she's ever had. It's an interesting story, but it feels like there's too much going on at once and that the book can't decide which of the things it's really about. I'm always happy about more LGTBQ+ stories for kids, but that element of the book seemed tagged on and seamy (i.e. not at all seamlessly interwoven). And the ghosts/spirits part felt that way, too, really, although I do wonder if that perception is due to my not being very well versed in the proper cultural references. If so, then yeah, I own up to needing to do more homework to get how the spirits work into things. However, since this is a book intended for a young audience, it would have been a great opportunity to introduce them to such a thing (or at least add some references at the end for further reading). So, great potential here, but I think it needed a bit more polish.

Show Less

Twelve-year-old Caroline and her father live on Water Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Caroline, known as a “Hurricane Child,” since she was born during a hurricane, is plagued with bad luck. She is bullied daily at school by both children and her teachers who make cruel remarks about her

Show More

dark skin tone. Her feelings of loneliness are compounded by the fact that her mother left and never returned. When a new student from Barbados named Kalinda joins her class, Caroline is drawn to Kalinda’s confidence and disinterest in befriending the bullies. The two girls soon become close friends. Caroline realizes her feelings for Kalinda are more than platonic and when she expresses them to Kalinda, they are unfortunately met with resistance. - SLJ January 2018 Issues of race and sexual identity entwined with the traditional coming of age story make this a great choice for middle age readers. Strong characters and elements of magical realism carry the story. (Emily J. review for award presentation--Stonewall Book Award)

Show Less

the first 60 pages of this were really hard to get through. caroline is going THROUGH it. this has some serious, big emotional depth especially for a middle grade novel.

caroline spent the whole novel like 'adults never take me seriously. they don't know shit' which i love. she's such a great

Show More

character. she has such a fury about her, such a righteous anger. so well-formed.

the second half of this novel really picked up and had a great pace. i loved caroline as a main character. i stan.

Show Less

Hints of ghosts and spirits, school bullies, and navigating new friendships, plus really beautiful writing that brings the story to life vividly. Caroline is such a fiercely independent kid, she's easy to root for, and the cover is perfect for the story.

Twelve-year-old Caroline Murphy is a lonely child -- her mother skipped out on the family a while ago, her father is emotionally distant, her teacher doesn't hide her disdain for Caroline, and the other children bully her. But things start to change when a new girl, Kalinda, arrives at school and

Show More

is interested in helping Caroline reconnect with her mother.

This book had a ton of positive reviews from critical sources and it sounded very promising. While I did like it on the whole, some of it didn't quite live up to the hype. Let's start with the positives:

- Diversity and representation were present in all kinds of ways. Caroline is Black (specifically noted that she is a darker tone than many of her classmates) and clearly queer. The setting (U.S. Virgin Islands) is also not one seen much in children's literature and it felt like the author did a good job of integrating the culture without stating 'and this is how it's done in the Caribbean' (i.e., she doesn't hit the reader over the head with it, but instead lets it flow naturally into the writing). There is also the separated parents situation for both Caroline and Kalinda, although in different ways for each girl.
- The writing was compelling and kept me engaged.
- The audiobook narrator was excellent and it really felt like I was listening in on Caroline's thoughts during this slice of her life.

On the flip side, it seemed like the book was trying to conquer a whole lot and didn't necessarily live up to it all. For instance, the whole subplot about spirits and ghosts never felt like it was truly explained. I guess this was just adding on atmospheric and cultural vibes, but it didn't do much for me personally. Also Bernadette initially seemed to appear out of nowhere and was a rather underdeveloped character. The final explanation about Caroline's mother and why she left her child with zero contact also felt a little weak, especially after all the different scenarios that Caroline ran through in her mind.

I'd be slightly hesitant to recommend this book to some sensitive or especially susceptible readers as Caroline does describe some violence in her interactions with the other school children, and also the fact that Caroline and Kalinda run away from home while there is a storm watch, spending the night in a condo they broke into and have a physical altercation with a security guard there. This book initially seemed to lean almost too heavily in the romance plotline -- I'm happy the LGBTQIA representation is there but this is the third middle-grade book I've read recently about 12-year-olds talking about love, marriage, soulmates, etc. as though lasting relationships founded at such a young age are the norm. However, this book did later step back from that a little with Caroline later in the book realizing she's too young for such a long-lasting relationship.

Again, on the whole I enjoyed this book, but it did feel like a lot was jam-packed into a relatively short book so some of it was better developed than other parts.

Show Less

diverse children's middlegrade fiction (missing absent mother, black tween in the Caribbean Islands with a crush on another girl, contact with spirit world or other unearthly beings)
I loved how complex the characters and their situations were. I felt the jumbledness of the different issues and the

Show More

complexity of everything happening reflected how confusing the time could be for a queer child growing up without a mother and without friends.
The cover is also beautiful though I wish the child were as blue-black dark as she is described in the text. As much as I love seeing POC prominently featured on book covers, this lightening of the skin is still a form of white-washing.

Show Less

I feel strongly that we need more books like this in the world -- queer/questioning child, set in the Carribean, own voices, deals with mental illness. Beautifully written, in a dreamy, intense, adult novel kind of way.

I hated it.
I assume that this is my failing, because I don't really enjoy

Show More

dreamy, drifty sorts of books when they are filled with cruelty, even while I can appreciate the reality they depict. But I think the real thing is that this child is abandoned by her parent and no one ever explains to her what is going on in her mother's life. She is just expected to cope. And when she finally does find her mother and confront her, the response is, well, I love you, but I had some stuff to work on, so it was too painful to see you. I guess we can hang out now, if that's ok. I was planning on never seeing you again, but you're here now, so...
And when she expresses how angry she is about this situation, her teacher tells her that she's being self-absorbed.

I find this completely outrageous and more than a little horrifying. I also suspect that my feelings of outrage come from a place of privilege, where I've never needed to face this kind of pragmatic abandonment.

Nonetheless, I can't imagine, having read it, giving it to a child. I think maybe a book group for adults would be a more appropriate venue. Anyway, that's an honest opinion. I also honestly hope that Kheryn Callender keeps writing, because I think their voice adds to the richness of the world, even if it is too difficult for me, personally, to enjoy.

Show Less

Caroline is a hurricane child, born during a hurricane which is considered bad luck. She is shunned by the kids at school and frequently gets into trouble with her teacher. She has early, fond memories of her mother who left the family and sent back postcards from her travels. But the postcards

Show More

have long stopped. Caroline wishes to be reunited with her mother but doesn't know how to find her; she wonders if the woman in black she always sees has something to do with her mother. Kalinda Francis shows up as the new girl in school and Caroline falls in love with her. Together the two go in search of Caroline's mother. The prose is elegant and grounded and the island setting is vivid. Caroline herself comes off as an old soul.

Show Less