Although it is a fictional account of the events in New Orleans, when Hurricane Katrina struck, the voice of the narrator, a 10-year old boy named Louis, who plays a coronet, captures some of the terror of that time. Colin Bootman's moving paintings combine perfectly with Myron Uhlberg's believable narrative that tells the story of one family's experiences as they drift into the watery world of the floods and the chaos of the dome where they went seeking shelter. Although 10 seems old for a narrator of a picture book, this feels totally on the mark. His Mama calls him her baby, but in the end it is Louis who proves he is anything but a baby. 7-11.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.