Tamara Ellis Smith
Biography
Tamara Ellis Smith is a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her debut middle grade novel Another Kind of Hurricane (Schwartz & Wade/Random House, 2015) was a Summer 2015 Kids Indies Next List pick, a 2015 Indies Introduces Top Ten Pick, one of Bank Street's Best Books of the Year, an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award finalist, and a Vermont Book Award finalist. She lives in Vermont with her husband and four kids.
Schedule
10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.
State Library of Louisiana, Seminar Center
Book Talk
Another Kind of Hurricane
11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
B&N Jr. Tent
Book Signing
Another Kind of Hurricane
In this stunning debut novel, two very different characters—a black boy who loses his home in Hurricane Katrina and a white boy in Vermont who loses his best friend in a tragic accident—come together to find healing.
A hurricane, a tragic death, two boys, one marble. How they intertwine is at the heart of this beautiful, poignant book. When ten-year-old Zavion loses his home in Hurricane Katrina, he and his father are forced to flee to Baton Rouge. And when Henry, a ten-year-old boy in northern Vermont, tragically loses his best friend, Wayne, he flees to ravaged New Orleans to help with hurricane relief efforts—and to search for a marble that was in the pocket of a pair of jeans donated to the Red Cross.
Rich with imagery and crackling with hope, this is the unforgettable story of how lives connect in unexpected, even magical, ways.
“In Smith’s poetic hands, this poignant story barrels across the pages and into the reader’s heart, reminding us that magic can arise from the deepest tragedy.” —Kathi Appelt, Newbery Honor Award winner and two-time National Book Award Finalist
Volunteer
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