14 Hollow Road: 12/17/17

14 Hollow Road by Jenn Bishop is a middle grade fiction inspired by real events. Maddie has been looking forward to the sixth grade dance — the last big event at her school for the year. She has the perfect dress, the perfect hairstyle, and she's hoping to dance with her long time friend (and crush). But all of that goes wrong. He dances with someone else, the lights go off, and she returns home to find her home flattened by a freak tornado and her beloved dog missing.

The remainder of the book is the aftermath — the recovery from losing everything. Her parents and brother are fine but the dog is missing, presumed dead. They're now living next door, sharing the space with their neighbors, whose home was spared. She's sharing a room with her crush — the one who didn't dance with her! But mostly she's devastated by the disappearance of her dog.

The first few chapters — the ones that set up the remainder of the book — scared the bejeebers out of me. I'm a Californian and we don't usually have tornadoes here. The way though that the storm is lingering there with the storm mentioned on the radio as scenic background noise to how the lights go off and the generators don't fire up sets the stage for what's to come.

The missing dog plot also hit home. My state has gone through some horrendous wildfires and there have been dozens of stories of families fleeing without their pets. Though many pets have died there are also stories of pets being rescued in the cleanup operations afterwards, as well as owners' uncertainty and guilt for not being able to get them to safety.

Despite all the drama and loss, this book does have a happy, hopeful ending.

Four stars

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