Ninth Ward

Ninth Ward is a small book of exquisite beauty. A stark contrast to all the epic stories out there these days, Ninth Ward gives us a mere ten days with our characters: the days immediately prior to Hurricane Katrina, through the floods that followed the levee failures. Even in this brief time, author Jewell Parker Rhodes makes New Orleans come alive.

Lanesha was born in a caul, which to superstitious folk means she walks between to worlds. In plain words, she can see dead people. She’s being raised by Mama Ya-Ya, the midwife who tended her birth and being brought up with a great sense of spirituality, the special mix of voodoo and Catholicism that is practiced in by many in New Orleans. It is this spirituality that will guide her as she faces the storm and struggles to survive.

Age Recommendation: This is a great choice for middle grades readers. Lanesha is an intelligent and well-spoken role model. Terrific vocabulary words are used and immediately defined which will assist readers who would otherwise struggle with them.

Great for: Giving a sense of the power and destruction of Hurricane Katrina in a way that will not cause nightmares. It’s a book about an incredible tragedy and our characters do not escape unscathed, but the overall message is one of strength, love and hope rather than fear and loss. Death is handled in a very age appropriate manner.

Non-Traditional Family – Lanesha is raised by the midwife that birthed her, her mother is dead and her father unknown.  She is not a legal dependent.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Lanesha does not know who her father is.
Profanity – We’re told TaShon is cursing but are not told any of the words.
Death, Violence and Gore – There are a few separate categories here. Much of what I considered the goriest stuff was in the description of Lanesha’s birth, how the bloody membrane was cut from her, how tea was made with a drop of blood from the caul and the caul buried. The next category involves the ghosts – if you’re going to have ghosts, we’re going to hear how some of them died, in childbirth, from drive-bys or robberies. Additionally, we’re told of some of the hardships of the type of people who live in the Ninth Ward – a man who lost his foot in Vietnam, another who is a double amputee due to diabetes. Finally, there is a death involving a major character in the story. It is handled in a very reassuring way and is not scary or gory at all.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Some adults in the French Quarter drink. Some in the Ninth Ward offer Lanesha mojitos, but the realize that she’s too young. People drink liquor like it’s Mardi Gras.
Frightening or Intense Things – This book is set in New Orleans and the main character is said to have “the sight”.  Given that, expect some ghosts and talk of the dead.  A boy was born with extra fingers and his father cut them off.  There is an episode involving abuse of animals (kicking a dog, rumors of setting fire to a cat).