The Hurricane Girls

by Kimberly Willis Holt

A coming-of-age middle grade novel about three best friends born in the wake of Hurricane Katrina who must confront storms of their own 12 years later, from a National Book Award winning author.

Born in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Greer, Joya Mia, and Kiki are seventh graders and the best of friends. After an accident leaves Greer's little sister paralyzed, Greer is forever changed by the experience and blames herself. Kiki and Joya Mia will do anything to help Greer let go of this emotional burden, and a plan is hatched to compete in a triathlon. Each girl will Kiki will swim, Joya Mia will cycle, and Greer, if they can persuade her, will run—something she once loved to do. 

Set on the Westbank of New Orleans, this contemporary coming-of-age novel is a journey of growth, healing, and difficult transitions as the girls navigate their many life family trauma, body insecurity, and the conflict between ambitions and responsibilities. It's a powerful and enlightening exploration of how to surmount personal tragedy through friendship and forgiveness.

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Friendship, Coming Of Age, Childrens, Fiction, Sports

288 pages, Hardcover

Published August 29, 2023

About the author

Kimberly Willis Holt is the author of the Piper Reed series, including Piper Reed, Navy Brat, Piper Reed, Clubhouse Queen, and Piper Reed, Rodeo Star. She has written many award-winning novels, including The Water Seeker and My Louisiana Sky, as well as the picture books Waiting for Gregory and Skinny Brown Dog. A former Navy brat herself, Holt was born in Pensacola, Florida, and lived all over the U.S. and the world—from Paris to Norfolk to Guam to New Orleans. Holt long dreamed of being a writer, but first worked as a radio news director, marketed a water park, and was an interior decorator, among other jobs. A few years after she started writing, her third book, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, won a National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She resides in West Texas with her family.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/kimber...

Reviews

[Afoma (Reading Middle Grade) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hurricane Girls is a warm, stirring, and sparkling middle grade book about female friendships, body image, sports, and self-forgiveness. Set in the lively New Orleans, this story celebrates family, sisterhood, perseverance, and the grit required to recover from tragedy. This is one of my favorite books this year and I highly recommend it.

Full review: https://readingmiddlegrade.com/the-hu...

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has so many good themes running through it!
1) Family relationships
2) Strong friendships
3)Girl Power!
4) Learning to accept oneself and others as they are
5)The empowerment one can feel upon helping others succeed

Great middle-grade read, for girls and boys alike!
(Boy, do I feel old; Hurricane Katrina was in 2005, so parts of this book are considered historical fiction…)

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, friendships, setting goals and growing in spirits. Wonderful!

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greer, Kikki and Joya Mia were all babies when Hurricane Katrina happened. They bond over this when doing a school history project about Katrina.

Now all 3 girls are facing hard things. Joya Mia’s family are immigrants and she worries about their finances. Kikki’s father recently left their family and she has body image issues. And Greer’s younger sister is a new wheelchair user after a terrible accident.

But when the 3 girls decide to participate in a triathlon it’s just the challenge that they need to bring them all together. A sweet story of female empowerment that our whole family enjoyed on audio!

[Katheryne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic story about 3 young friends in New Orleans. Short chapters alternated each of their voices and perspectives. Greer, Kiki, and Joya Mia are going through personal struggles, but they are the best of friends. With supportive family and new friends, they find ways to grow and change both together and apart. Participating in a team triathlon gives them a group goal to strive for. This is definitely a story all young readers will enjoy.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

[C.J. Ellison]

Set in New Orleans, over a decade after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, The Hurricane Girls tells a very sweet story of three friends trying to help each other through tough times. This book touches on how deeply tragedies impact kids, whether or not they were alive to witness it, and the importance of community in those times. The girls are very easy to know and love, and it makes for a quick and thoughtful novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing me with an ARC of this title.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story more the further I got into it. It reads quickly, in part because the narration rotates among the three protagonists. This approach also helps better develop each of the three friends, establishing their independent struggles and personalities while examining the nuances of their relationship in a way that seems especially refreshing for a middle grade book. I will definitely recommend to my students.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads really old-fashioned (department store modeling agencies, teenage boys using the word “blouse,” etc). I didn’t enjoy it personally but I can appreciate its usefulness as a book I can hand to parents looking for…this kind of thing.

[Marti (Letstalkaboutbooksbaybee) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this middle grade book up randomly on a whim from the library and it was cute! Tugged on the heartstrings a bit but overall the writing felt very surface level

[Scarlett Machado · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was lacking and too cringe for me.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this sweet short book on friendships, endurance, and figuring out insecurities. I love how supportive they each were in their struggles.

[Themountainbookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read. Cute how the story all pulls together. However I found the story lacking. I wish the chapters went in depth more. The story line seemed choppy with how things were broken up. There were scenes that I wanted to continue but didn’t. I wanted more from the story. Each girl has something going on that makes life hard. But nothing gets resolved in the end. Which does make the story feel like real life. It’s still worth reading.

FYI parents the girls are a bit boy focused.

[Cherie Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches in less than two years, a disaster imprinted on my memory. For young people picking up Kimberly Willis Holt's latest novel, Katrina doesn't even register.

In "The Hurricane Girls," Holt introduces us to three seventh graders who were born in the wake of the hurricane that roared through New Orleans in August 2005. Because Greer, Joya Mia and Kiki never witnessed the storm, their history teacher assigned them the "Hurricane Project," and asked them to interview those family members and friends who experienced Hurricane Katrina.

What they discover are unique stories but ones that paint a full picture.

"Their own personal hurricane stories were completely different from one another's, but somehow the differences felt like puzzle pieces connecting perfectly together," Holt writes in the introduction.

By the time the threesome finished their report, they became known as the "Hurricane Girls."

The story takes place in 2018 as the girls tackle seventh grade. Greer wants to be a track star, Latino Joya Mia's parents moved to New Orleans when she was a baby to work in restaurant and construction jobs and have now opened their own eatery, working endless hours, and Kiki is an entrepreneur struggling with body insecurities. Kiki was born on Katrina's landfall — Aug. 25, 2005, and is named for the storm.

As much as the title and girls' background point to Katrina, the story revolves around Greer and the accident to her little sister, Darby, that changed both their lives. Greer enlists her baby sister on a run through the neighborhood, against her parents' instructions, and a car accident leaves Darby paralyzed. Consumed with guilt, Greer quits running and falls into a depression. The threesome falters.

"Last summer had a been a great one: sleepovers and matinees at Greer's dad's movie theater," Holt writes in Kiki's chapter. "Lately Greer was quiet and sad, and that had upset the trio's balance. Now they were like a tricycle with one loose wheel."

Kiki and Joya Mia decide to enter a triathlon to pull Greer from her depression and inspire her to follow her dream. Each girl prepares to take a portion of the challenge: Joya Mia will bike, Kiki will swim and Greer will run. Only Joya Mia and Kiki need to not only perfect their sport but to learn it! It's all in the determination to restore a valued friendship.

"The Hurricane Girls" explores the golden bonds of friendship, of resilience from many forms of tragedies and the healing power of forgiveness.

[Josephine Sorrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hurricane Girls by Kimberly Willis Holt, one of my favorite authors, has penned a wonderful story of the strong bond between three girls who were brought together on a school project. I thought the story was going to focus on the tragedies of hurricane Katrina, but it’s about the lives of children born during the devastating hurricane. There is nothing particularly exciting in this book, rather it’s just a fantastic story of human nature.

You view each girl facing her own personal “hurricane” as they struggle with recent decisions, an accident, and a parent who left.

The girls are 13 and named, Greer, Joya Mia, and Kiki. They have been close friends ever since they worked on a project about Hurricane Katrina the previous year. Another connection is, living in New Orleans, they were all born in 2005, and Kiki was even born on the day the hurricane made landfall.

It seems in the past few months, their once close friendship has declined. Greer is burdened with guilt after an accident she blames herself for, Joya Mia struggles to balance her family life while not sacrificing her own, and Kiki has felt lost ever since her father walked out on her family. Kiki, a quite mature girl, misses her friends. She decides to bring them back together with a unique project: a summer relay triathlon.

I liked seeing each girl deal with her own struggles and decisions as they decide to train for a relay triathlon with real reservations,

Kiki doesn't want to be a quitter anymore like her father who left and and she struggles with a poor self respect of her body image. We watch her grow and become more comfortable in her body and herself.

Greer, poor girl, is dealing with grief from the accident that left her little sister in a wheelchair. She blames herself and feels her mother blames her as well. I believe the mother did blame her daughter and even though she didn’t want Greer to feel that way it came out as such. Can the family ever come to peace with the accident?

Joya Mia, who cares so much about her family, is such a strong character, but is still figuring out life and what she wants out of it.

I don’t think every book needs to have a teaching element or a message but Holt’s story can teach us all that as adults there are so many things in life to learn from the children around us, even our own.

Now, I want to go meet and be friends with the Hurricane Girls.

[Rebecca Shelton · Rating 3 out of 5]

In "The Hurricane Girls" we follow the lives of three best friends—Greer, Joya Mia, and Kiki—who were all born in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now seventh graders, these friends face a new set of challenges twelve years later. After a tragic accident leaves Greer's younger sister paralyzed, Greer struggles with guilt and emotional turmoil. Her friends, Kiki and Joya Mia, are determined to help her heal and come up with a plan to participate in a triathlon. Kiki will swim, Joya Mia will cycle, and they hope to convince Greer to take up running again, a passion she once loved.

Set against the backdrop of New Orleans, the story navigates the complexities of growing up, dealing with family trauma, and facing body insecurities. It's a tale of friendship, healing, and the struggles of balancing personal ambitions with responsibilities. The narrative explores how the girls confront their individual and collective challenges, using their friendship as a source of strength and support.

While the premise of "The Lost Sisters of New Orleans" holds promise, the execution falls a bit short. The writing is adequate, but the story lacks the depth needed to make a lasting impact. I found it difficult to connect with the characters, as they felt underdeveloped and their journeys weren't fully fleshed out. There was a lot of plot packed into the story, but none of it seemed to be explored thoroughly enough to resonate deeply.

One particular aspect that bothered me was the focus on Kiki's character and her issues with body image. The narrative leaned heavily into fatphobia, which felt unnecessary and detracted from the more meaningful aspects of the story. It seemed like an overemphasis on body fat was inserted without it being integral to the plot, which can be frustrating and distracting for readers. Overall, while the book had moments of potential, it didn't quite come together in a way that felt satisfying or impactful.

[Virginia McGee Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Place has always been key in Kimberly Willis Holt’s middle grade novels. The Hurricane Girls is no exception. The newest edition to her collection takes place in New Orleans and draws from her own experience living there during one of her father’s military assignments. Three middle school girls, who are so different that they seem unlikely friends, bond in sixth grade over a project report on Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane happened the year they were born so their research sends them to their own family stories.

In seventh grade, Greer, Joya Mia, and Kiki each have personal and family issues that threaten to drive a wedge into that friendship. Focus for each chapter rotates among the girls to such an extent that the reader gets the feel of three distinct protagonists, each one believable and relatable. They plan to compete in a triathlon to restore their friendship which is important to all three of them. Each has to put effort into specific obstacles that would keep Kiki from swimming, Joya Mia from biking, and Greer from running. Family loyalty, guilt, and body image all come in to play in ways that are common to middle graders. I will not spoil the ending, but will say it was not Cinderella but was satisfying and hopeful.

The book is available for preorder with a book birthday on August 29, appropriately on the thirteenth anniversary of the hurricane. When I saw an offer for an advance reading copy, I jumped right in since I am a KWH fan reaching back to her earliest works when Zachary Beaver came to town and when Tiger Ann lived under her Louisiana sky. Lest you think that might make me biased, The Horn Book Magazine gives The Hurricane Girls one of its infrequent starred reviews. You don’t want to miss this book even if you are no longer in middle grade.

[GT Allstars · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the historical fiction, The Hurricane Girls, written by Kimberly Willis Holt, the tone starts off accusatory but then is mostly ambivalent. I think this because Greer kept blaming herself for Darby’s accident untill she found out the truth. The book is mostly amblivalent because everyone has mixed feelings in this story. Greer has mixed feelings about the accident, Kiki has mixed feelings about her dad, and Joya Mia has mixed feelings about the modeling agency. The theme is that if you work hard for something, you will eventually achieve it. I think this because the “Hurricane Girls” worked hard for the triathlon and they won in biking and running.

What interests me is the fact that the girls did the triathlon just for Greer. That just shows how strong the girls' friendship is. Even though she didn’t cause the accident, Greer still put Greer in danger by bringing her along with her for her run. A craft move that I notice is that this book is in the perspective of Kiki, Greer, and Joya Mia but is written in third person. A signpost that I notice is memory moment. Greer had mentioned the accident many times in the story for an unknown reason. I think that this is because she is trying to signify how the accident really impacted where she is now.

I connect to this book because I am also in a trio friend group. I care about what happens because the characters have already been through so much. Including Greer and Darby’s accident, Kiki’s parent’s divorce, and Joya Mia’s financial problems.

Once again, the theme is that if you work hard for something you will achieve it. I recommend this book to almost everyone, especially if you were impacted by Hurricane Katrina. This book is officially certified radical!

[Suzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kimberly Willia Holt is an automatic read for me. I met her when I was in elementary school and loved "My Louisiana Sky" and this one is my new favorite.
Greer, Kiki & Joya Mia have such a great friendship. Things have changed and are waning since Greer's family had an accident that changed everything.
I liked seeing each girl come out of their shell as they decide to train for a relay triathlon.
Kiki doesn't want to be a quitter anymore like her father who left and I loved seeing her grow and become more comfortable in her body and herself.
Greer, poor girl is dealing with grief from the accident, but finally comes to terms and finds a way to find peace.
Joya Mia, she cares so much about her family, she is such a strong character, but is still figuring out life and what she wants out of it. They are only in middle school, but they are already looking to their futures and dealing with some big issues.
I loved this book. It is a great just grade read, but can also teach us all that there are still so many things in life to learn from the children around us.
Holt does a great job of showing us these different families and how they are all doing their best to help their children along. The writing is real and wholesome. I want to go and be friends with the Hurricane Girls!

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

[Jamie Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hurricane Girls are Greer, Kiki, and Joya Mia, girls that became fast friends after working on a project together about Hurricane Katrina - each girl born the same year. Greer was track star until an accident she blames herself left her younger sister, Darby, paralyzed from the waist down. Kiki struggles to commit to things, but is always coming up with new ideas, as long as it keeps her from pre-algebra. Joya Mia (Mexican American) is super smart and worries about her families money issues even with their popular food tryck that started by traveling to the construction sites cleaning and rebuilding New Orleans after the hurricane. The accident has left Darby drifting from her friends, and they decide to help her by convincing her to join a junior triathalon with them - Kiki swimming (when she hasn't learned how yet), Joya Mia cycling (on a rusty old bike), and Greer running. Told in alternating perspectives of all three girls, the book delves into their friendship, their families, and their losses and triumphants. Darby and Greer's mother feel underdeveloped, just set pieces for Greer's issues, but most of the other characters are solid.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three girls, growing up in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, were placed into a group project about the infamous hurricane. From that moment on, they were inseparable. Now, as seventh graders, Greer, Joya Mia, and Kiki are best friends and navigating the treachery of their teen years. Greer struggles with self guilt and controlling her emotions after the accident that paralyzed her little sister. In an effort to help Greer, Kiki and Joya Miya decide to enter a triathlon with Kiki swimming, Joya Mia biking, and hoping Greer will run—something she once loved. Follow along as the girls face challenges like family struggles, body insecurity, crushes and heartbreak, and the balance between ambition and responsibility. Through their friendship, they learn to overcome personal tragedy and find forgiveness.

[Rebecca Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hurricane Girls by Kimberly Willis Holt (Christy Ottavanio Books August 2023) vividly portrays a summer after the strong bond between three girls has started to unravel. Each girl faces her own personal “hurricane” as they struggle with recent decisions, an accident, and a parent who left.

Thirteen-year-olds Greer, Joya Mia, and Kiki have been close friends ever since they worked on a project about Hurricane Katrina the previous year. They face a strong connection because they’d all been born in 2005, and Kiki was even born on the day the hurricane made landfall in their city of New Orleans. But in the past few months, their once close friendship has deteriorated. Greer is burdened with guilt after an accident she blames herself for, Joya Mia struggles to balance her family life with her own desires, and Kiki has felt lost ever since her father walked out on her family. Despite the distance that has grown between them, Kiki misses her friends and decides to bring them back together with a unique project: a summer triathlon.

The narrative unfolds with alternating chapters that offer a glimpse into each girl’s perspective and provide insights into each girl’s individual concerns, conflict, and emotions. This really let me get to know their personalities and like the girls even more. The title of the book relates to not just to the shared experience of surviving Hurricane Katrina but also reflects the turbulent nature of their friendship during this summer as they make choices and face new challenges. Entering adolescence sometimes feels like a hurricane, where everything is in flux. The girls find that by supporting and helping each other through their hurricanes, they become stronger individually and collectively.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance review copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Chrissy Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hurricane Girls is a book about Greer, Joya Mia and Kiki. Born in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and completing a project about the Hurricane, the girls starting started calling themselves the Hurricane Girls. Geer had a family tragedy that the girls are trying to help survive. Kiki decides they should do a triathlon together, she will do the swimming (even though she doesn’t know how).

This story has/deals with a lot of issues-guilt, body images, father leaving, budding romance, etc. Together, the girls face things together and learn valuable lessons. I really enjoyed this story! Would highly recommend this book!

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading Kimberly Willis Holt ever since her first book, but have missed some of her last books. I "won' this book, and I'm glad I did. It's a great middle grade/early high school book that I especially liked because the three girls were "average" in the sense that they were relatable. Their lives and families weren't perfect, but their individual issues were not the main focus of the book. Yes, they were important, but more important was their friendship and they way they were there for each other and overcame issues that caused small problems. I also loved the pos-Katrina setting and the back stories of how it had influenced their lives and their families.

[Angie Diles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a story of three best friends who live in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina. One of the girls even shares a birthday with this extraordinary event. These friends have to endure tragedy and insecurity in order for all the girls to find their self worth. This book shows how a struggling family deals with tragedy, how a girl deals with body image, and a friend who finds independence with modeling to help pay for college. They decide to enter a triathlon. Their story could be our story. Kimberly Willis Holt makes our hearts connect with characters that could be us!!

[Robyn Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally the West Bank of New Orleans gets some representation and recognition! I started reading this last night and couldn’t put it down and binged it in one sitting. 😅 The short chapters switching between each of the 3 girls made it even easier to say “just a bit more”. Each girl, her personality, struggles, her family, and home life felt so realistic too. I love each of their character development and, of course, knowing the streets and areas mentioned so well that I could mentally track their routes in my mind. I truly loved it!

[Deena Lipomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

After her little sister is hit by a car, Greer no longer wants to run, but her two best friends convince her join a triathlon. Through their training in New Orleans, they each learn something about themselves and each other. The alternating POVs offer readers three stories in one. Greer's guilt is understandable, and her friends' not quite knowing what to do for her feels realistic. The fact that the girls were born in the year of Hurricane Katrina has less impact than what they are doing today. A nice, contemporary tale.

[Danielle Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read this because I love Kimberly Willis Holt’s books! This was no exception. The characters: Greer, Joya Mia, and Kiki, were all lovable in their own way. I enjoyed reading from all of their perspectives. I also thought Holt did a wonderful job touching on important subjections: trauma, therapy, body image, etc.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kiki, Greer, and Joya Mia are best friends who were born the same year that Hurricane Katrina hit their hometown. Greer is a runner and while training one day, her sister was hit by a drunk driver and paralyzed. Greer abruptly stops running and blames herself for the accident. When Kiki finds a flyer for a triathlon, she encourages her friends to sign up with her in hopes they can get Greer back to running. As the friends train for the triathlon, they learn about resilience and self-confidence.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet middle grades fictional story about 3 best friends and New Orleans. I thought Katrina would be more prominent in the story, but it was more about the girls and their struggles (family/relatively common middle school struggles). I probably won’t put it in my classroom just because of the discussions of crushes and periods. But, would be great for middle school.

[Gail Faucheaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute quick read. I was interested because I lived through Hurricane Katrina. This book was not about that. So I was a bit disappointed . Author also states the wrong date of the storm in the final chapter. I also did not realize it was a book for middle schoolers. I do recommend it for middle schoolers.