Fig, a sixth grader, loves her dad and the home they share in a beachside town. She does not love the long months of hurricane season. Her father, a once-renowned piano player, sometimes goes looking for the music in the middle of a storm. More than anything, Fig wants to see the world through her father's eyes, so she takes an art class to experience life as an artist does. Then Fig's dad shows up at school, confused and looking for her. Not only does the class not bring Fig closer to understanding him, it brings social services to their door.
As the walls start to fall around her, Fig is sure it's up to her alone to solve her father's problems and protect her family's privacy. But with the help of her best friend, a cute girl at the library, and a surprisingly kind new neighbor, Fig learns she isn't as alone as she once thought... and begins to compose her own definition of family. Nicole Melleby's Hurricane Season is a radiant and tender novel about taking risks and facing danger, about friendship and art, and about growing up and coming out. And more than anything else, it is a story about love — both its limits and its incredible healing power.
"[Fig and her father] love each other, but they don’t totally understand each other — Fig’s dad is a formerly successful pianist and composer with unmanaged bipolar disorder — so Fig has decided to do a project on Vincent van Gogh for art class. Maybe if she studies an artist, she can understand her father’s mind... She must figure out what to do before social services returns; how to manage her male best friend’s crush on her and her crush on someone else — a girl; and how to react when her father and [new neighbor] Mark fall in love.... Melleby doesn’t shy away from how terrifying it is to watch someone in a dangerously manic state, but the narrative never tips into melodrama. A thoughtful portrayal of mental illness with queer content that avoids coming-out clichés." — Kirkus Reviews
Recommended Age | 10 - 13 |
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Author | Nicole Melleby |
ISBN | 1616209062 |
Publication Date | May 7, 2019 |
Publisher | Algonquin Young Readers |
Language | English |