Tornado

Series: Orca Soundings
Publication Date: 30 Jun. 2021
Format: Paperback / softback

ISBN 9781459827264

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    When a distant storm knocks out the power at his high school, Cam and his friends head out for burgers. On their way back to pick up Cam’s little brother, Peter, at the bus stop, they are caught up in the middle of a deadly tornado.Cam manages to survive and makes his way home only to discover that his house has been destroyed and his parents are locked in an argument that ends in a startling revelation. And Peter is still missing. 

    Cam must battle extreme weather conditions to find his brother, as his already fragile family is being torn apart by secrets.

    Information

    Book Type: Junior High
    Age Group: 13 Years +
    Traffic Lights: Amber
    Class Novel: Yes
    Good Reads Rating: 5/5
    Literary Rating: 5/5

    Review

    Cam, his friends Adam and Chrissy, and his girlfriend Ava, are driving to get burgers after school is let out early due to a storm warning; Cam was meant to go straight home to meet his brother, Peter, off the school bus, but he’s sure he’ll make it home in time. 

    Driving back into town, the friends see the cause of the storm warning: a severe tornado has blown up, and is heading directly for them! They try to flee the storm in their car, but to no avail. Cam finds himself blown up and out of the vehicle, while the others are trapped inside as it is blown around.

    When Cam comes to, he discovers Adam and Ava are dead, and Chrissy appears close to death. Feeling terribly guilty for leaving them, Cam nonetheless flees to find a way back home—he is desperate to find Peter. As Cam makes his way back home and starts searching, he finds himself lying over and over about where he and his friends had been…his parents would be furious with him, and they fight enough as it is. 

    When the truth comes out, Cam’s dad is so overcome with emotion that he shouts angrily that Cam ‘isn’t his son’—it turns out Cam’s mum had an affair. Fleeing the house, Cam struggles to deal with this new information on top of everything else. 

    Thankfully, after several scares, Cam finds Peter and the two boys are collected by an army patrol and taken to the hospital. Cam is then treated for severe head trauma and finds himself ‘talking’ to Ava, who reassures him that she will always love him and that he should ‘go back’. Cam awakens and makes a steady recovery, and soon discovers that Chrissy did, in fact, survive, and the two mourn the passing of Adam and Ava. 

    Following the tragic funerals for Adam and Ava, and an emotional reconciliation with his dad, Cam and his loved ones slowly begin to rebuild their lives.

    This book is very powerful, emotive, and heart-wrenching. Readers feel Cam’s pain as he mourns his losses, and the consequences he faces for his actions are devastating, yet well handled. 

    The story approaches loss and grief in a very mature way, without overdoing the thematic content and still delivers an engaging and riveting narrative. Tornado is a must for middle and older readers.

    Themes

    Tornado, natural disaster, grief, losing loved ones, storms, lying, bravery, doing the right thing, marital affair

    Content Notes

    1. Cam’s friend Adam and his girlfriend Ava die in the tornado at the start of the book. Their bodies are described in limited detail (p. 18). Numerous other injuries (head gashes, broken limbs/fingers). Mentions of a few deaths (another student from school and a pet cat) are mentioned throughout. 2. Cam and Ava are in a relationship; Cam mentions his love for her several times throughout the story, and the couple kiss (p. 5). Kissing (p. 62, 82). Cam describes Ava’s figure in an attractive way (p. 1), and Ava jokingly asks him if he’s thinking about her ‘with or without clothes’ (p. 6). 3. Cam’s mum is implied to be an alcoholic; she has a bottle of vodka hidden in the freezer (p. 8) and attends an AA meeting at the end of the story (p. 94). Characters are also mentioned to be drinking or feeling drunk (p. 5, 59, 61, 77). 4. Language: shit (p. 8), pissed (referring to Peter wetting himself) (p. 47).. 5. Supernatural: Cam has an ‘encounter’ with Ava at the end of the story, when he is recovering from surgery. She convinces him to open his eyes and ‘go on’. No explanation is given (p. 83-85).

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