Flood Warning

June 1, 2012
Grades 2-4 With the winter mountain snow melting, the Fraser River in British Columbia is starting to overflow its banks, threatening rural homes and dairy farms. An evacuation train is leaving for Vancouver, but with fields increasingly filling with water, the cows are in danger, too, and third-grader Tom stays back to help get them to higher ground. Moving them proves challenging, but with some Lone Ranger inspiration (Tom's hero), persistence, and his dog Amos' assistance, Tom helps lead the cows to safety, where his family and others must camp to weather the flood. This Orca Echoes early chapter book offers an accessible, well-paced read while conveying the nature of floods, from preparationssuch as shoring up with sand bags and moving furniture upstairsto the geological impact. Leavening the suspenseful moments are light touches like Tom's coaxing of a very vocal stranded calf. Black-and-white drawings of characters, rural settings, and scenarios provide historic flavor to the story, which is based on the real Fraser River flood of 1948.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)