Book Review Eye of Storm by Kate Messner
This is going to be on my "recommend right away" list for my students in the fall. A corking mix of mystery, adventure, and science fiction. Fabulous! Set in the "non too distant" time to come, Eye of the Storm captures a world where climate change has completely contradistinct the landscape. Immense storms sweep through everywhere, altering life every bit we've known it. Jaden is sent to live with her father in StormSafe community to attend a cutting edge science camp when she uncovers secrets her father is hiding virtually his weather inquiry. Environmental "nigh future" science fiction at its best, this book will appeal to readers who are fascinated with meteorology, climate science, and fifty-fifty mystery. A tiny hint of romance sweetens the tale. Age Levels - Eye grades. Science Concepts - Climatology, meteorology, some genetics (in the scientific discipline campsite) Wonders and What Ifs - What will happen if our climate continues to change? How far would you go to protect the ones you dear? When is information technology okay to accept secrets or to reveal the secrets of others? Narrator / Main Characters - Kate Messner is a master at the stiff female person protagonist. Jaden is a joy to read, and I love how her math and scientific discipline groundwork is but a part of who she is - not something that is seen as "odd" in any way.
Compassion the scientific discipline geeks, the math geeks, and other kids that love a ripping yarn with a grounding in something other than fantasy. When I troll the shelves of the children's room in my local library it's just a sea of realistic non-sciencey fiction or tales too outlandish to play with any real world concepts in a satisfying way. The designation "science fiction" often just means that the volume is fix in the future or contains aliens. There'southward not going to exist a ton of real science involved. Enter, of all authors, Kate Messner. Best known up until this point for her picture books, and affiliate titles featuring plucky young women who go against the grain (Marty McGuire, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, Saccharide & Ice, etc.) Messner tries something a little unlike with a truthful dystopian tale. In that location's even so the requisite plucky young daughter in place, but her tale really hinges on the truthful-to-life science institute in Eye of the Storm's core. For all those kids that establish the tornado at the showtime of MGM's The Wizard of Oz super freaky, prepare for some serious turbine terror. The absurd affair nearly having a mom who's a scientist is that she gets to do projects deep into the jungles. The bad thing is that when she does this yous could wind upwards stuck with a begetter you doesn't eve know. Years ago Jaden'south parents divide and ever since then she'due south lived with her mom while her dad followed his weather condition research. It's the near future and due to global warming the conditions has gone mildly insane. Tornadoes jump upwards with frightening regularity in middle America and Jaden has learned to fearfulness them. That's why when her dad takes her to a community named Placid Meadows she has a hard time assertive that the place is impervious to storms. Nevertheless somehow that seems to be the example and Jaden is convinced that the technology backside information technology could be used to dissipate all tornadoes. What she doesn't expect is to notice that her male parent is a homo clearly different from the i who left her behind all those years ago. This i seems driven to an almost fanatical point and whatever it is he's planning, Jaden is becoming convinced it isn't for the greater good. Authors who write books set in the time to come are in a demark. On the one hand, if yous desire a danger like an ecological meltdown to feel immediate and so setting your book in the near (rather than distant) future is the style to go. On the other hand, if you write a book and it contains words forth the lines of "In the year 2025" your novel is going to exist anything but timeless when old 2025 rolls effectually. Maybe the only real solution is to do away with a distinct year altogether. In Eye of the Storm we don't open the book to a particular twelvemonth. Instead we go petty clues that hint at the year. The poet Rita Dove is thought past Jaden to exist "in her nineties now". Jaden's grandfather apparently enlisted in the armed forces afterward nine/11. Then even if this volume sticks effectually for a hundred years, the time menstruum won't age all that badly. Now the science in this book is intense. In the course of this novel Jaden joins a kind of summer camp academy where kids can test out their theories on tempest dissipation in cool and plush labs. Messner clearly did her research (her Acknowledgements even deed every bit a partial Bibliography, which is nice) since the kids in her volume know their chops. I admit that I did zone out once or twice when the technical aspects of tornado germination were bandied most, or the logic behind the kids' experiments escaped me. These passages may prove fascinating to a certain breed of Weather Aqueduct watcher, but happily those who wish to skim them will be none the worse for the wear as a effect. I also liked the incorporation of poesy with science too. It seems strange to say that you would accept to sell kids on the notion of literature and science meeting when they're already reading this book, but a fiddling additional positive reinforcement couldn't hurt any. For the virtually office I was on board with the story from start to stop. There was a high stakes moment well-nigh the terminate when I thought it mighty foreign that Jaden didn't call her begetter (she knew he had the power to modify the trouble she was facing) but other than that the book reads well. Basically what we've got here is a conditions mystery. Such a genre does not technically exist (Withal!) but equally our ain environment succumbs to our wasteful whims we could exist seeing more books along Messner'due south lines beingness produced in the time to come for the nine-14 set. Seems to me that sometimes we should separate our fiction into scientific discipline fiction and science-science fiction. Eye of the Storm is certainly in the latter category and will prove to be interesting to both science lovers and those readers who only similar a whole lot of subversive tornadoes bashing about wrecking havoc. Exciting and informative by terms, this is one fiddling hard-to-categorize novel that slips easily into the "great read" slot. Future meteorologists rejoice! For ages ix-fourteen.
Eye of the Storm is an older heart grade dystopian novel. It follows in the recent trend of dystopian novels with a basis in science. Which makes me smile happily every time. In the not and then distance futurity due to climate change, tornados have become the greatest threat to flesh. Formerly regulated tornado aisle in the Midwest, they're everywhere now. The storms have gotten so bad that their are roadside shelters along every Interstate, students are homeschooled via computers and playing outside has ceased to be (okay that might be the present). The day afterward I finished this book we had tornado warnings in Kentucky. Allow'south just say this book did not help my weather-panic. This book is near flawless. The characters, even the bad guys, take believable motivations. The pacing was spot-on, the start half of the book slowly building then the second half everything coming to fruition. In one case the rising activity and chief plotline started rolling I had problem stopping reading. Probably the just real flaw in this book, in my opinion, was that I had trouble assertive the characters were merely xiii. They were the brightest minds of their generation, merely they were trying to solve scientific concepts that I had trouble grasping (storm dissipation using satellites and focused microwave energy). But honestly, in the grand scope of flaws that'south something I can live with. I'd rather read a novel with smart kids than a novel that treats kids similar they are stupid. Groovy dystopian for the younger sect. With science, the tingles of kickoff crushes and the terror or tornados where tin can you really go wrong? On the Fri later on I finished this volume Kentucky had a massive tornado outbreak. Just xx miles up the interstate East Bernstadt was hit with an F2 tornado. Five people died, many were injured and lots of families lost their homes. If yous are interested in helping the people of East Bernstadt check out this link: www.helpforeb.com. Many of the injured lived in trailers so they lost everything in the storm. However I'm so proud to be a Kentuckian. People from all over the region are pitching in considering nosotros believe in taking care of our own.
More reviews at http://readerpants.blogspot.com. WHAT I LIKED: Heart of the Storm started out promising. Jaden is a young girl--a very smart girl, bonus!--who goes to alive with her dad later on he has been studying storm development in Russia for years. He has a new married woman and infant daughter, neither of whom Jaden has met before (cue adolescent angst). Jaden attends science camp, and chop-chop befriends Risha and falls in similar with Alex. All this confronting a backdrop of killer tornadoes and sinister science, and the volume sounds like a recipe for success. Descriptions of the community they live in--where anybody's safety is guaranteed in writing--are really cool and futuristic. Everyone carries a information slate, which seems much like an iPad and phone combined. I love how the world'southward environment has slowly deteriorated, causing huge storms that threaten everyday life, and I definitely see some parallels with recent news reports that weather has generally become more than active in the past several years due to global climate changes. I liked the heart-pounding moments where Jaden breaks into places she should non be and attempts to figure out what's going on. I enjoyed the activeness of testing theories of storm dissipation in the Sim Dome, and the drama of characters running for shelter when they get defenseless out in the storm. WHAT I DIDN'T Similar: Graphic symbol development is near nonexistent. Near the simply thing I know about Jaden is that she is really smart and loves science. In fact, that's pretty much all I know most Alex and Risha too. The dad is a extravaganza of someone obsessed with science; he does little else exterior his office and rarely spends whatever time with his married woman and daughters. The immature wife Mirielle is also a caricature--she is immature, pretty, a perfect mother to the baby, and always in a cheerful mood (even though her married man ignores her and the baby about of the time). I motion-picture show her wearing yellow sundresses and dancing around the kitchen, blissfully oblivious to what is going on around her. The plot is simple and really only has one focus--to stop the tornadoes. While 300+ pages is more than enough room to develop a couple of subplots, Messner spends more time explaining the science behind tornadoes and meteorology. Some science-minded kids will definitely dearest that, but for me, it drags down the story and detracts from graphic symbol and plot development. The romance betwixt Alex and Jaden seems to be about an afterthought, added in just to add something else to the linear plot. And what'due south with the mom non calling her panicked daughter dorsum? Jaden calls her mother several times and worries needlessly considering her female parent does non bother to return the call. I am a mom, and if my son called me multiple times (or even but once), begging me to call him dorsum as presently as possible, I would do information technology immediately. As with the Jaden/Alex romance, it seems this was added in later to provide some sort of badly-needed subplot. The twist at the cease is supposed to be surprising. I am non usually one to predict endings well, just I saw this one coming very early on in the story. The real villain seems to exist simply to make the begetter expect less like the mastermind backside the whole plot and more than like a loving father. Yuck. THE BOTTOM LINE: While it may aid fill a need for fiction nigh scientific discipline-minded girls, Heart of the Storm lacks plot and graphic symbol development, making information technology a strictly additional buy.
Reviewed at: *Summary: Jaden lives in the non too distant future where tornadoes have intensified and are a constant threat. Jaden'south father is the head of a corporation that studies tornadoes and that built a StormSafe neighborhood where the storms cannot get in. Jaden's begetter has non been as well active in her life for the last couple of years, but when she is invited to visit him and attend a world-renowned science camp in a neighborhood that doesn't get tornadoes- it is a win-win situation. And everything is going actually well. Jaden has been grouped into the meteorology section of the army camp, she has made friends and is partnered with a actually bright, nice boy named Alex. It is great. Except that something really weird is going on with her dad. He isn't himself- he simply talks about piece of work, is really intense, and isn't the comforting man that Jaden remembers. The tornadoes, the neighborhood and his company accept get his obsession. So Jaden decides to discover the truth backside her father's obsession and the truth is horrible- worse than she could even imagine. What I Think: Wow! This book jumps correct in! Within the outset couple of paragraphs you are thrown in the center of a tornado that is barreling down on Jaden and her father. And the terror never ceases. Even when yous outset to become comfy, yous are on the border of your seat considering y'all know that something is going on. This future in general terrifies me. Tornadoes are the thing that I probably fright the nearly. I lived in tornado alley until I was 14 and have been also close to tornadoes. I had reoccurring nightmares nigh them all of my childhood. They were an obsession and a fear. So Jaden's time to come is fascinating, simply besides my worst nightmare. And what makes Jaden's earth fifty-fifty worse is that with the add-on of the intense tornadoes, it seems like most joy was taken from her globe- no more museums, ballet, poetry, Disney, pleasance reading, classroom learning. All of the things that brand our earth a place that I dearest- gone. My reaction to this aspect of the book reminded me of the same reaction I have with The Giver when I was in middle school. I cannot imagine a world where these joys are sucked away. Oh, and I haven't fifty-fifty mentioned how well Kate writes. The imagery that she creates, specifically when it comes to the tornadoes, is what makes the book. The ability to visualize what she has created and so you experience like you are there with Jaden moves the story to the side by side level. "A wall of death-blackness cloud sits on the horizon. Slow-swirling charcoal fingers accomplish down from it. They point to the ground, hungry for grit and trees and buildings. The fingers shut into thick fists, swirling, churning toward the farms." (p. 215-216)
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This book, i that I was lucky enough to win from a Goodreads give away, came simply in time for the first of our school break and information technology is a good matter it did because I would surely accept been late for piece of work when the excitement grew to hefty for me to cease reading for something every bit mundane every bit classes to teach. Having read Kate Messner'due south Sugar and Ice, I was expecting a sweetness, good book virtually nice kids with moderate issues. In short, I did not await to be blown abroad. But I was blown abroad by how the excitement grew to a fever pitch as kids in 2050 battled with the frequent ravages of tornadoes. As someone raised in Montana where funnel clouds were rare, I never have thought much about this conditions phenomena, even after moving to the Midwest. I will never call up about tornadoes the same mode again after reading this book. Jaden is sent to spend the summer with her male parent, a world famous meteorologist who works for the authorities on storm dissipation. The earth is at present ravaged by the effects of climatic change, making storm cellars a must for every home, business, and gathering spot. Every dwelling house, that is, except the ones in the special community of Placid Meadows that her father has created. Jaden has come up to a office of a special program for smart, scientific kids. There is romantic interest and some very modest issues settling in with her father and his new wife, merely the thrust of the story is the study of these tornadoes and the shocking realization that all is not equally information technology should be. Jaden'southward father has a deep and horrible clandestine, or maybe several secrets. Jaden and her friends must make up one's mind what is actually going on at STormSafe Headquarters and so stop the unthinkable from happening. I loved the references to the "one-time" days of 2012 such equally appreciation of gas driven vehicles and paper books. Messner does a great job of naming items similar the DataSlate and BeatBuds so we know exactly what they are without needing further description. The but folks luckier than I am that I won this are the students at my school who will now go to see the versatility and talent of Kate Messner and will exist waiting with me for her next book to appear.
Review originally posted on Heise Reads & Recommends This is my first Kate Messner book and I hope to read many more! I've known her through twitter (she's also a middle schoolhouse teacher) and now that I know her as an author I'one thousand fifty-fifty more excited. I loved this story full of suspense and peachy characters. It was exciting and engaging and informative and entertaining and scary and hopeful. Jaden is a kick-butt girl who is smart and strong, and only gets more confident throughout the events of this story. I dearest reading smart characters who can exist office models for my centre schoolers, and Kate has definitely written some in both Jaden and Alex in this book. I recollect Jaden and Alex made a dandy pairing, and it's refreshing to read near adept people without all of the angst and drama of some of the young developed books I've read recently. This is a great middle grades book with really likeable characters who many volition exist able to relate to. The world that Kate has created in this future society where storms and tornadoes have go much more powerful than they ever take before, is one in which I could see this society going, but it's scary at the same time. The details she puts in with all of the changes around the country and the globe get in feel completely authentic and realistic. This is a well-researched book with details about storm germination and tornadoes that I imagine middle schoolers volition notice interesting. There is a villain (or 2) and suspense and action which should hook my students, equally well every bit friendships and family drama and a bear upon of flirtation which will hook others, and and then the science aspects will grab others. It'south definitely a book I tin see having appeal for both boys and girls and I volition have no hesitation recommending this ane to any of them. This book is definitely one to add to any classroom library or middle school reader'southward collection. ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED
Eye of the Storm is a futuristic thriller about weather! If you had told me I would like a book about weather, I would have said, "Y'all're crazy!" just this IS a volume about wild tornadoes set sometime in the future, and I didn't want to put it down. A corking read aloud selection besides!
Tornadoes can be fascinating... and frightening. Usually, there is an eerie calmness before the sky turns a greenish hue and blackens. A stinging air current stirs the air with expressionless leaves and dirt before sirens wail. Panicked, yous scramble indoors to safety. At present, shut your optics and imagine a hereafter where tornadoes occur so frequently that you tin can't fifty-fifty ride a wheel outdoors. Or keep a hike. Or feel the air current on your face as y'all swing. Instead, you live in physical bunkers or cloak-and-dagger where it is safe. This is twelve-twelvemonth-sometime Jaden's world, set in the yr 2050. Tornadoes accept go and so severe that the Fujita calibration has changed from the top level measurement of an F6 to an F10. When Jaden goes to alive with her dad and stride-mom at Placid Meadows, she finds a community where the tornadoes don't bear upon downwards. A customs where she tin can be outside without fear. Jaden'southward dad has created a technology that protects Placid Meadows, just she hasn't seen her dad in iv years and is not sure how the technology works. Jaden asks him questions and while he shares information with her, she knows that something isn't quite right. That the information does non reflect what is happening around her. Jaden digs deeper into her questions as she goes to a science camp to learn about meteorology. She makes friends with Risha, Alex, and Tomas and is paired with Alex who is interested in tornado dissipation similar her. The two observe some inexplicable things about the nearby tornadoes that touch on downward and become determined to solve the mystery of Placid Meadows. Messner does a great job with tension and establishing the characters right abroad, also as creating a vortex of themes. When we first run across dad he is in the car with Jaden and they are trying to not get stuck in a tornado. They are racing to a shelter every bit debris and wind threatens to engulf their automobile. Jaden'due south dad isn't frightened. If anything he loves it and appears addicted to severe weather condition. He tells Jaden not to worry and is oblivious to the fact that she is terrified. The reader quickly learns that dad is single-minded and doesn't respect other people's wishes to not live in an artificial environment like farmers or Aunt Linda. He is aptitude on edifice Phase Two of Placid Meadows and cannot understand why someone would cull a life that is unprotected from severe weather. The genre is dystopia but I would also call it a mystery too. There is plenty of action, character development, and tension. Jaden is trying to reconnect with her father, make new friends, solve a scientific problem, and understand choices people make every bit to where to live. I like how this well-crafted story has raging tornadoes that seem to mirror the storm that is going on within of Jaden as she changes throughout the novel. She has to make up one's mind between saving other people or going confronting her dad. She also has to acquire to trust and believe in herself. It is a multi-layered story that can generate some good book guild discussions. Some might discover the story filled with too much science and applied science simply I really enjoyed that side and thought it was balanced with the rest of the story. I also thought Messner was creative in showing some devices that are currently used by tempest chasers, such equally a mobile meso-net unit of measurement and her futuristic device called a DataDrone. Other clever word plays are Deoxyribonucleic acid-ture and DataSlate. I similar how Messner uses the librarian who believes that old technology does not mean it is useless technology. So often we are racing off to collect the newest engineering without idea as to whether or not it is better applied science. I also got a kicking out of the Risha'southward binary coded bracelets that spelled out words. That was pretty funny. I wonder if Messner dreamed that up or if she knows someone who has bracelets like that? There is some romance between Risha and Tomas and Jaden and Alex, simply non much happens because they are too busy solving the mystery of Placid Meadows. Teachers could use this book for educational activity pocket-size moments (pages 53 describes eating something delicious, 55 describes swinging) or the scientific method where students at camp are learning if-so statements and hypothesis (folio 38). Our students are crazy near science and this should be a hitting with them. Reading level four.8 5 out of 5 Smileys
This fast-moving book will appeal as to boys and girls, scientific discipline nerds and kids who haste science just care about the surround. Jaden Meggs lives in a future that seems probable given the climate change that is already happening. Big storms like Hurricane Katrina have changed not only the concrete landscape, but in Jaden's world, the way life is lived. Jayden goes to spend the summer with her father, a earth-famous storm practiced who has designed and is profiting from a storm-proof customs in Oklahoma. She makes friends with other smart kids attending Center on Tomorrow, a high-quality scientific discipline army camp. The world Messner has created feels only in one case-removed from our ain, so younger readers volition recognize their own reality as well as what life might be like if tornadoes and hurricanes go along to destroy homes and communities. Readers will besides identify with Jaden'due south mixed feelings toward her father (who is divorced from her mother, remarried, with a young child), with the kinship she forms with science military camp friends, and the lusciousness of a first kiss…or a non-GMO strawberry. I must confess that I did non read every word of the last chapters…because I was anxious to see how the volume concluded! I skimmed and occasionally even jumped ahead considering of the tension. Could a group of practiced-hearted and intelligent youth triumph over power-hungry adults? Could their trouble-solving efforts relieve people and homes from monster storms?
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