A.D. - New Orleans After the Deludge by Josh Neufeld


A.D. follows six people from the hours before Katrina struck to its horrific aftermath. Here is Denise, a sixth-generation New Orleanian who will experience the chaos of the Superdome; the Doctor, whose unscathed French Quarter home becomes a refuge for those not so lucky; Abbas and his friend Mansell, who face the storm from the roof of Abbas’s family-run market; Kwame, a pastor’s son whose young life will remain wildly unsettled well into the future; and Leo, a comic-book fan, and his girlfriend, Michelle, who will lose everything but each other. We watch as they make the wrenching decision between staying and evacuating. And we see them coping not only with the outcome of their own decisions but also with those made by politicians, police, and others like themselves--decisions that drastically affect their lives, but over which they have no control.


I think I saw it listed as one of the top 10 GN for Teens for 2009 so I thought I would give it a try. Wow! I was impressed by how much punch and emotion came out with very little text and mostly illustrations to make a point. It brings it all back, the horror at watching this natural disaster become a terrible, terrible disaster. Just really well done.