SuitabookNinth Ward
Jewell Parker Rhodes
- Reading
- Consider reading together or checking in after the storm scenes and Mama Ya-Ya’s death. If useful, follow the story with factual accounts of Katrina to explore how a fictional child’s perspective relates to wider history.
- Themes
- Katrina through a child’s eyes: Lanesha experiences the storm and flooding in the Ninth Ward, with danger unfolding around her and TaShon. Lanesha’s perspective follows the storm and flooding as danger unfolds around her and TaShon.
- Supernatural elements: Lanesha sees spirits, and Mama Ya-Ya has visions that foretell the future. Lanesha sees spirits, and Mama Ya-Ya has visions that foretell the future.
- Worth knowing
- The approaching storm, rising floodwater and danger to the children create sustained peril. Mama Ya-Ya’s death is also part of the story, bringing grief into the disaster narrative.