Cindy: I live in Michigan, so mid-March is not too late to write about snowstorm books. In fact, it’s snowing as I write this post. Snow Struck (Delacorte, 2022) is the second storm novel by Nick Courage, an author who lives in New Orleans and knows something of weather disasters. This adventure features two Florida kids who are excited to visit their NYC cousin and see some snow at Christmas. Elizabeth and Matty have been living in a hotel since a hurricane took the roof off their house, so the trip is even more exciting. They arrive at the start of a freak storm that starts with temps in the 80s that quickly change as an arctic front sweeps through and they get more snow than they bargained for. As he did in his first book, Courage puts readers into the heads of various animals affected by the changing climate and the storm, with some beautiful nature writing, and provides additional information and tension through the perspective of climate scientists and weather experts. But nothing will ratchet up the suspense like a missing dog and the dangerous search for it on the empty streets of Manhattan. Watch out for that huge, falling Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza!
When my middle schoolers were getting excited about impending snowstorms and the possibility of snow days, I would always booktalk Michael Northrup’s survival story Trapped (Scholastic, 2011) about a group of high school students who get trapped at school in a big storm. Snow Struck will be perfect for a younger tween audience and might also spur them into some action to help our climate. Spring will come to Michigan, soon, right?
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