 | Disaster days Author: Behrens, Rebecca | |
| Price: $6.55 | ||
Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Hannah's first real babysitting job turns into a nightmare when a major earthquake knocks out power and phones, cuts off the island, and leaves her stranded with two children.
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| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 5.30 Points: 10.0 Quiz: 505492 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 3-5 Reading Level: 4.60 Points: 15.0 Quiz: 78051 | |
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 09/01/2019 Thirteen-year-old Hannah Steele loves her tiny, utopian island home just across the bridge from Seattle. But when the Pacific Northwest is rocked by a massive 8.0 earthquake during her first real babysitting gig—trapping her and her two young charges (and a guinea pig) on the island, while their parents remain on the mainland—her safe haven becomes unrecognizable. Without cell service to call for help or the internet to search for how to treat a broken leg or infected gash, Hannah finds her babysitter’s training (If it’s a real emergency, get an adult!) quickly falling short as the harrowing hours turn into grueling days. Fans of survival thrillers in the vein of Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet will enjoy this tense, honest tale of bravery. Hannah battles not just external dangers, such as a gas leak and downed power lines, but also internal temptations to give up hope or lash out in fear, making this an excellent (and refreshingly not didactic) teaching tool on natural-disaster preparedness. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 10/01/2019 Gr 4–7—Pelling, a small, isolated, fictional island near Seattle, is a utopia. At least, that's what Hannah Steele thinks. Life for Hannah is safe and simple, so much so she hardly worries when she forgets her emergency inhaler for her asthma while babysitting her neighbor's children, Zoe and Oscar. Hannah feels prepared because she's 13, has taken a babysitting course, has her phone if there's a real emergency, and knows home is less than a mile away. Her biggest issues are her mother, who babies her, and her concern that her best friend is ignoring her. Then the shaking starts. After the earthquake, Hannah discovers Pelling is completely cut off from the mainland and the phone towers are down. Her only lifeline is the emergency services broadcasts on the radio. With no adults, Hannah, Zoe, and Oscar must use all their resources to survive. Even as the action steadily increases, the characters behave realistically. Hannah and her charges have reasonable amounts of working knowledge for the emergency but react in an age-appropriate manner to the escalating danger. After reading Behrens's informative, riveting portrayal of earthquakes and their aftermath, readers may learn how to respond in a similar situation. VERDICT A realistic, engrossing survival story that's perfect for aspiring babysitters and fans of John Macfarlane's Stormstruck!, Sherry Shahan's Ice Island, or Wesley King's A World Below.—Kaetlyn Phillips, Yorkton, Sask. - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
