Module 5 - Ninth Ward

Summary.
The Ninth Ward is about a young girl Lenesha and her adoptive grandmother, Mama Ya-Ya.  Lenesha describes her family, her neighborhood, and hopes for the future.  Lenesha can see and talk with ghosts.  One of which is her mother who died when giving birth to Lenesha.  Mama Ya-Ya is a mystic and midwife.  The book covers the days just before, during, and after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Lanesha grows up quick and finds her strength to help herself, family, and friends survive the storm.

 

Impressions
I really enjoyed this book.  The author, Jewell Parker Rhodes, does an excellent job of describing Lanesha’s world and the events that she goes through.  There is a powerful sense of love and family.  One aspect of the story that I like is the character Lenesha.  She has hope for the future, despite being poor.  She does not see herself as hopeless.  She knows education and love with carry her forward in life.

Reviews

New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina is the setting for this tense novel that blends the drama of the catastrophic storm with magic realism. Twelve-year-old Lanesha's teenage mother died while giving birth to her, and, because her mother's wealthy uptown family won't have anything to do with her, she is raised in the Ninth Ward by loving Mama Ya-Ya, 82, who feels like her "mother and grandmother both." Born with a caul over her eyes, Lanesha is teased at school, but she is strengthened by her fierce caretaker's devotion and by a teacher who inspires Lanesha to become an engineer and build bridges. Lanesha also has "second sight," which includes an ability to see her mother's ghost. As the storm nears and the call comes for mandatory evacuation, Mama Ya-Ya envisions that she will not survive, but Lanesha escapes the rising water in a small rowboat and even rescues others along the way. The dynamics of the diverse community enrich the survival story, and the contemporary struggle of one brave child humanizes the historic tragedy. - Hazel Rochman

Rochman, H. (2010). Ninth ward. The Booklist, 106(17), 87-87. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/235602304?accountid=7113

 

With a mix of magical and gritty realism, Rhodes's (Voodoo Dreams) first novel for young readers imagines Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding through the eyes of resourceful 12-year-old Lanesha. Lanesha lives with Mama Ya-Ya, an 82-year-old seer and midwife who delivered Lanesha and has cared for her since her teenage mother died in childbirth. Living in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Lanesha is viewed as an unusual child (she was born with a caul and is able to see ghosts) and is ostracized at school. Lanesha finds strength in Mama Ya-Ya's constant love and axioms of affection and reassurance ("When the time's right… the universe shines down love"). The story becomes gripping as the waters rise and Lanesha, with help from a young neighbor and her mother's ghostly presence, finds a way to keep body and soul together. The spare but vivid prose, lilting dialogue, and skilled storytelling brings this tragedy to life; the powerful sense of community Rhodes evokes in the Ninth Ward prior to the storm makes the devastation and the hardships Lanesha endures all the more powerful. Ages 10-up. (Aug.)

Ninth Ward. (2010). Publishers Weekly, 257(30), 46.

Suggestions

Hurricane Katrina is a relatively recent event.  It can be used to analyze how people saw that event before, during, and after the storm. The main character Lenesha is middle school student and this book is basically a diary of her life during the time of Katrina.  Students can create a diary of their life around a natural disaster.  They can discuss how they physically and mentally survive.

References

Jewell, R. (2010). Ninth ward. New York: Little Brown Books.

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