Hurricane- Picture Book 1

Hurricane

By: David Wiesner

Genre: Picture Book

Award: N/A

Grade Level: This book is appropriate for the first grade because of its readability. It has an interesting plot line for students as well as relatable characters. Students may need background information on storms and their characteristics, but when considering Floridian students this book will be completely relatable to them.

Summary: The exposition of David Wiesner’s Hurricane introduces the book’s two main characters George and David and their cat, Hannibal, who are in the middle of a hurricane. When the hurricane passes the boys wake up to find that their elm tree had fallen into the neighbor’s yard. Upon further investigation of the fallen tree, the boys and Hannibal embark on numerous adventures like traveling to the heart of the jungle, riding the seven seas, and even journeying to the stars and beyond. The sad denouement of the book consists of George and David’s elm tree getting cut up and taken away by John’s lawn service. The book ends with a hopeful twist and the boys preparing for the next storm.

Classroom Strategies:

Instruct the students to turn to page six and consider all the descriptions stated on the page. Have the students chose one of the descriptive situations to illustrate themselves. For example: “It looks like a green blizzard!” or “sustained winds of fifty miles per hour, gusting to ninety” could be drawn by students in their own perspective.

Ask the students to consider if/how the story would be different if George and David experienced a flood as opposed to a hurricane. Have them create an illustration and a summary of what they think would happen.

ESOL: The ESOL strategies used in the classroom strategies include illustrations, predicting, summarizing, and brain storming.

Read Aloud: I would read page six to my students, so that while reading all the descriptive lines I can emphasize how David Wiesner’s use of language really paints a picture in the readers mind. While reading I would ask the students to picture the scenarios in their mind to gain a better understanding of the book and help with the classroom strategies activity.

Personal Opinion: This book was unexpected in that the title and cover suggested that the main focus of the story would be about a hurricane. Although a hurricane was a crucial element of the story, it was only discussed in the exposition and at the end of the book. I thought Hurricane was heartwarming in that the brothers, George and David,  got along so well and really played off each other’s imagination.