Galveston's Summer of the Storm (Chapparal Books for Young Readers Series)

by Julie Lake

Overview

When fourteen-year-old Abby Kate boards the train in Austin to spend three weeks with her grandmother in Galveston, she’s full of excitement—about the train ride and the prospect of days on the beach, exploring Galveston with her cousin Jane, family picnics, and her grandmother’s good food. But things go wrong even before she gets to her grandmother’s house. Abby Kate gets off the train briefly in Houston—and the train leaves without her. Stranded in the railroad station, she is befriended by a man traveling with his two sons and eventually reaches Galveston safely.

Then word comes that Abby Kate’s young brother, Will, has diphtheria, and she will have to stay in Galveston indefinitely. Abby Kate is still in Galveston on September 8 when a massive hurricane strikes the city.

At first the prospect of a storm is exciting. But as Abby Kate takes an ill-advised trip to watch the waves crash on the beach, the storm turns into a terrifying monster. Unable to make it back to Grandmother Linden’s house, Abby Kate, her older cousin Ellen, and Ellen’s friend Ian take refuge in the home of one of Ian’s teachers. When the house falls apart, Abby Kate is on her own, clinging to a plank in swirling waters with the wind howling around her head.

With vivid descriptions, Julie Lake plunges the reader into the storm right along with Abby Kate. The Galveston hurricane of September 8, 1900, remains the worst national disaster to hit the United States.

And Abby Kate? She’s spunky, mischievous, kind and caring, courageous when she has to be, and absolutely irresistible!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780875652726
Publisher:	Texas Christian University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2003
Series:	Chaparral Books Series
Pages:	158
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Julie Lake makes her home in Austin, Texas. This is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

Abby Kate Linden is excited at the prospect of a summer with her grandmother in Galveston, Texas. Abby Kate knows that staying with her grandmother means trips to the beach and the nearby docks to see the huge ships bearing exotic items from foreign ports of call. For the first time, Abby Kate will be allowed to travel by train with a family friend accompanying her as far as Houston. She will then be on her own for the final leg of her journey. She arrives in Galveston ready for her summer of fun in the sun. Instead, Abby Kate finds herself being swept away by storm waters, drifting helplessly down the flooded streets of Galveston, and seeing death and destruction when a hurricane surprises residents with sudden ferocity. Homes are destroyed, and more than six thousand lives are lost in the wake of the storm. Abby Kate survives, but learns that the storm has not been kind to all of grandma's neighbors. In 1900, the city of Galveston suffered its worst hurricane in history. Lake provides an insider's look at what it must have been like as the storm approached the island and then swept away huge chunks of real estate. Because readers come to know Abby Kate and her family and friends, they begin to care about who will survive this terrible storm. Students will enjoy the detailed descriptions of the storm's raging destructiveness as well as the acts of individual heroism performed in adverse conditions. VOYA Codes: 4Q 3P M (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2003, Texas Christian University Press, 160p, Lesesne

VOYA