SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

July 21, 2022 by Amanda MacGregor

Book Review: Don’t Call Me a Hurricane by Ellen Hagan

July 21, 2022 by Amanda MacGregor   Leave a Comment

Publisher’s description

An affecting and resonant YA novel in verse that explores family, community, the changing ocean tides, and what it means to fall in love with someone who sees the world in a different way.

It’s been five years since a hurricane ravaged Eliza Marino’s life and home in her quiet town on the Jersey shore. Now a senior in high school, Eliza is passionate about fighting climate change-starting with saving Clam Cove Reserve, an area of marshland that is scheduled to be turned into buildable lots. Protecting the island helps Eliza deal with her lingering trauma from the storm, but she still can’t shake the fear that something will come along and wash out her life once again.
When Eliza meets Milo Harris at a party, she tries to hate him. Milo is one of the rich tourists who flock to the island every summer. But after Eliza reluctantly agrees to give Milo surfing lessons, she can’t help falling for him. Still, Eliza’s not sure if she’s ready to risk letting an outsider into the life she’s rebuilt. Especially once she discovers that Milo is keeping a devastating secret.
Told in stunning verse, Don’t Call Me a Hurricane is a love story for the people and places we come from, and a journey to preserve what we love most about home.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT


Amanda’s thoughts

I have long enjoyed novels in verse, but went on a deep-dive with them for a School Library Journal article earlier this year (Verse Novelists Forge a Unique Connection with Young Readers) and now like them more than ever. I am a fan of Hagan’s earlier novels and found this one as thoughtful, moving, and interesting as all her others.

Our main character, Eliza, is determined to help save her marshlands in her community. She loves her home and doesn’t want to see it overrun by seasonal tourists who are able to forever alter the landscape of a place she holds so dear. And while she’s so connected to and protective of the water around her, it’s water that has also traumatized her. Five years ago, a hurricane ripped through her home, devastating her town and nearly making her lose a member of her family. But still, she surfs, works as a lifeguard, and doesn’t want to see anything happen to the island.

Eliza is such strong character. She’s principled, intelligent, an activist, and deeply engaged in her community. She has also now fallen for a boy who turns out to be harboring a big secret, one that puts him firmly on the side of things she opposes. Her relationship with the island and its changes and tourists has always been complicated (her mother’s business likely relies on their patronage to survive and her father works construction on the island, even potentially working for projects that Eliza finds unacceptable). But she’s thoughtful about it all, and her flashbacks to the hurricane show her complex feelings and the fear and anxiety she has worked through (and continues to work through). She wants the island to stay hers, to stay theirs. She and other young climate activists work to educate others and to halt actions they find detrimental to the island. She is hopeful and looks to build a community that both survives and thrives. I’m glad to see more books addressing climate change and eco anxiety, to see more books showing teenagers as engaged in their communities, as activists. The beautiful verse adeptly captures the passion Eliza feels. A great read that I hope will send readers looking for Hagan’s other books if this is their first introduction to her.


Review copy (ARC) courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9781547609161
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 07/19/2022
Age Range: 13 – 17 Years

Filed under: Book Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
AnxietyBook reviewsClimate ChangeEco AnxietyVerseWeatherYA

About Amanda MacGregor

Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

August 2022

Book Review: Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King

by Amanda MacGregor

July 2022

Post-It Note Reviews: Quick looks at new books for all ages!

by Amanda MacGregor

July 2022

Book Review: The Language of Seabirds by Will Taylor

by Amanda MacGregor

July 2022

Book Review: Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa

by Amanda MacGregor

June 2022

Book Review: The Name She Gave Me by Betty Culley

by Amanda MacGregor

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Name That LEGO Book Cover! (#40)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Review of the Day: The Kaya Girl by Mamle Wolo

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Archie & Friends Chills and Thrills #1 | Preview

by Brigid Alverson

Heavy Medal

Adding to the Mock Newbery List: Submit your August suggestions

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Beating Burnout and Scribing Shipshape, a guest post by E. E. Dowd

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

What’s New, Newbery Authors? Meg Medina and Christina Soontornvat

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

26 Must-Have Latinx YA Books Filled with Romance, History, and Magical Realism

SLJ and Penguin Random House Create Poster Supporting the Freedom to Read

Making Space for Math in the Library

21 Insightful, Accessible, & Fun Books that Tweens Won't Want to Put Down | We Are Kid Lit Collective

17 Middle Grade Titles for Latinx Heritage Month (and All Year-Round)

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2022


COPYRIGHT © 2022