Hurricane City - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 2-Each letter of the alphabet ushers in a new hurricane in this strange book. While some of the situations depicted are humorous (ball players being swept up to catch fly balls), others are devastating. True, no one dies or gets hurt, and destroyed property is miraculously restored, but it is difficult to laugh in the face of disappearing houses, flooded streets, or a beauty shop being cut in half. Even though a portion of the book's earnings are to go toward hurricane relief, its publication at a time when areas of the country were being ravaged by floods is particularly unfortunate. Warhola's illustrations, with their angular and swirling lines, convey the chaos produced by the never-ending wind. They go far beyond the rhyming couplet on each page, whimsically rendering people, animals, and objects blown about their imaginary city. However, the bright blue strip that appears in the gutter of all but the first and last four pages clashes with the book's palette and seems totally superfluous. With so many excellent alphabet books available, let this one blow by.
Marianne Saccardi, Whitby School American Montessori Center, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the annals of Hurricane City there are hurricanes enough for each letter of the alphabet: Alvin, Zack and everything in between. Clad in shorts and T-shirts, a family accustomed to intemperate weather gives a whistlestop tour of their city's storms. Catchy verse whirls the reader through the hurricanes, big and small ("Sooner or later, / we get them all"), that have descended on this abnormally blustery town: "Hurricane Laura stole the steeple / And soaked a lot of dressed-up people," "Hurricane Ursula hurried by / And hung the clothesline way up high." Action verbs load the rhymes with upbeat energy, while exuberant illustrations ironically offset the humor of the text: e.g., "she moved the dog house just a touch" shows dog, kennel and baby sailing over the rooftops. Those who take exception to laughing at natural disasters should bear in mind that first-time author Weeks has earmarked a portion of the royalties for the Salvation Army Hurricane Relief Fund. A well-conceived, fast-paced alphabet book with a twist. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.