Ninth Ward

Rhodes, Jewell Parker. Ninth Ward. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2010. Print.

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Coretta Scott King Honor Book

Annotation: A fictional account of a young girl from the Ninth Ward, the hardest hit district in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

Book talk: Ninth Ward is the story of Lanesha, a 12-year old girl who lives in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans with the woman who delivered her, Mama Ya-Ya, after her mother died during her birth. Lanesha is special, she is able to see and speak to spirits (including her mother, who continues to labor in the upstairs bedroom). Lanesha is clever and strong, despite being mostly friendless because she is so very different from the other children in her neighborhood. But Lanesha is loved, even though her “up town” family cares little for her existence.    

Mama Ya-Ya is gifted too; both wise in the ways of the world and able see the future. And Mama Ya-Ya sees a great storm coming, and something else, something she can’t quite figure out.

ISBN:  9780316043076 

Subject Headings: Hurricane Katrina, 2005 – Juvenile fiction, Spirits – Fiction, Coming of Age – Fiction, Survival – Fiction, African Americans – Fiction, New Orleans (La.) – Fiction