Module 5:  Ninth Ward

Summary

The Ninth Ward tells the story of Lanesha, a twelve year old girl who experiences the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina while living in the Ninth Ward area of New Orleans.  We learn about her unusual birth, the death of her mother, and the elderly lady (Mama Ya-Ya) that takes her in.  Lanesha has visions, an ability to see her mother watching over her, and way of sensing things about to happen. She often thinks of the relatives she has on the more affluent side of New Orleans, and struggles to understand why they abandoned her. Rhodes develops Lanesha's character and setting amidst the growing urgency of the natural disaster that is headed their way.  As the reality of the magnitude of the storm becomes apparent, Rhodes describes the choices people made in response.  The reader begins to understand the role that poverty played in the ability for people to leave the area, and illuminates how members of a community depend on one another in moments of crisis. Rhodes takes us into Lanesha's life and gives the reader an opportunity to revisit this tragedy through the eyes of a child.  In addition, though, she shares some of the day to day struggles and triumphs of people living in the Ninth Ward.

Rhodes, J. P. (2010). Ninth ward. New York: Little, Brown, and Young.

Impressions

This book helped me understand the difficult situation that many Ninth Ward residents faced before and during Hurricane Katrina.  Lanesha, Mama Ya-Ya, and other members of her community had to face a powerful storm and many could not rapidly evacuate because of poverty and illness.  Rhodes takes time to develop the characters because it is their traits that guide them through their choices and actions during this natural disaster.  I liked how she intertwined Lanesha's friendships, teacher, neighborhood, and cultural beliefs into the story as it progressed.  It gives the reader a sense of walking the streets of the Ninth Ward and better understanding of Lanesha's predicament.  This book is a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and  it provides insight in to some of the culture and daily experiences of the African American community of the Ninth Ward during one of its most challenging times.

Review

With a mix of magical and gritty realism, Rhode's (Voodoo Dreams) first novel for young readers imagines Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding through the eyes of a 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 form 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 the Ninth Ward prior to the storm makes the devastation and the hardships Lanesha endures all the more powerful.  Ages 10-up.

Publisher's Weekly. (2010). [Review of the book Ninth ward, by Rhodes, J. P.]. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-316-04307-6

Library Uses 

The librarian can use this book as a study on a variety of topics, many of them appropriate for further research and collaborative group work.  Projects could be assigned that require students to study the city of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, social communities and their cultural beliefs, the impact of poverty on communities and individuals, and how societies deal with natural disasters.  Lanesha dreams of building bridges when she's older, and she see often wishes she could cross a bridge to the other side of New Orleans, one that would take her to the relatives that abandoned her.  Students could study real life bridges, design bridges, or even discuss the metaphor and its place in the story.  Language arts activities can center around discussions about what it means to be an outcast, how individuals impact their communities,  and discussions about what Lanesha saw as her gift and what gifts the students think they have to share. This book is filled with metaphors and would provide wonderful opportunities to explore this literary technique.