(“Advanced Readers Copy”, being published April 2014)

      Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere is a amazing book by Julie T. Lamana. The main character is Armani Curtis. Armani is looking forward to one thing: her 10th birthday. Armani and her mom, dad, grandmother Memaw, Brother Gorgeie, Sister Seally, and a brother Kheelin, and sister Khayla, who are about two years old live in New Orleans, in the Lower 9’s.

      Then, the family hears about this hurricane Katrina, and says there’s gonna be no damage. But, they are wrong. Once the storm starts, Armani knows she will have to be brave, watch loved ones die, and have to help the family survive this horrible storm.

      Armani learns while the storm is wrecking her life, that she has to help her family survive this storm, even though bad things happen, she has to fight them away and help out, then maybe come back to it. Her idea is to somehow find lost family members, and what used to be her home. “For the first time in my whole life, I felt unsafe in a place where I’d always know, no matter what, I was going to be safe.” On the blurb (back of book). Before the storm, Armani was safe in her home with her family.  Once the storm hit, she lost some family and security.  Then she didn’t feel safe in the place that always felt safe to her. The aftermath of this storm made her brave.

      I enjoyed the book, because sometimes it was pretty sad, and then, it eventually got better. Also, there was one big problem, and there was another small problem, which might have got solved, and then there was another one, and maybe the big one got solved at the end… Read it to find out! I would recommend the book for 10+ because it was sort of hard to take in sometimes, and it was pretty intense sometimes. I would rate this infinity stars because it was so good. I like the authors writing style because it gave me a better sense of what was going on in the book, and it was very clear. And, the characters are really interesting. (This storm is real, and it was pretty bad. This book might be a little different when it is published, so be aware.)