Orleans Ain't New, Cher

As the waters receded, New Orleans picked itself up by its bootstraps and flipped Hurricane Katrina a rude finger gesture as she tucked tail and ran. But what would happen if Katrina was only the first in a long line of increasingly more severe storms? Could our beloved N'Orleans and the surrounding delta survive? In Sherri L. Smith's Orleans, we get a terrifying glimpse of a world that we pray doesn't resemble our future. 

Fen survives in the Delta like everyone else. They have no choice. After hurricane after worsening hurricane battered the area into total submission, Delta Fever took over. Delta Fever was unstoppable and the rest of the country had no choice. They built the wall. They separated themselves from the Delta region, and left it to fend for itself. Now, decades later, inside the wall is assumed to be a wasteland with few survivors. Daniel wants to find a cure to Delta Fever, but his closest attempt only made the virus worse. Instead of giving up, he heads to Orleans to gather data that is unavailable outside the wall. 

Once inside, though, he is shocked to find a thriving, albeit bloodthirsty, way of life. Fen, a teenaged O-Pos girl lives that life well. Everyone survives better in a tribe, but when her tribe is brutally murdered and she is left with an infant from the tribes leader, she can only think of taking care of Baby. Although Daniel is a liability, he also helped her and Baby escape the Blood Farm, so she owes him. While she doesn't think she can give him want he is looking for, especially in the lawless city of Orleans, she can certainly guide him there. But there is a lot more waiting for innocent, unsuspecting kids than just Delta Fever. Orleans is full of shadows. 

This was a really interesting post-apocalyptic story. It was terrifying to see how quickly the region spiraled downwards, and how the rest of the country was totally willing to quarantine the area with Delta Fever unrelenting and incurable. I have family who lived through Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey, and it was until I saw the actual destruction a hurricane can cause, I didn't truly understand what a city like New Orleans has lived through. Sandy may have caused a lot of monetary damage that crippled a lot of people, but Katrina crippled a culture. Although they bounced back, as is the nature of those fierce Cajuns, Katrina will always be a part of their culture now, for better or for worse. The idea of shutting out a whole part of the country and calling it quits was terrifying, but how far would we really go if we couldn't control a deadly virus? 

The book is a little confusing sometimes because it is told in Fen's first-person perspective with a mild dialect (perfectly readable, and easy to get used to, but a grammatically incorrect dialect nonetheless), and Daniel's third-person perfect English. The chapter heads weren't marked, so sometimes it took me a minute to realize who I was reading from. This might confuse a weaker reader, so be careful who you give the story to. Still, it is a good enough stand-alone story for any young adult reader. The virus is a little odd in how it affects different blood types in different ways (hence the blood typed tribes), but if you just went with the story, you would certainly enjoy it. I look forward to more from Smith int he future!

Lord of the Flies Meets Mad Max

They aren't kidding when they say you "pay for the art" when you buy a graphic novel! Sadly, my book budget can't afford too many of them. But alas, my post-apocalyptic craze couldn't keep me away from this gem, and I am glad I couldn't resist it! Tribes: The Dog Years is the start to a brilliant series set hundreds of years after a nanovirus reduces the human lifespan to 21 years. Now the world is run by tribes of teenagers... scary isn't it?!

Sundog belongs to a tribe, the Sky Shadows, who believe the humans were punished for their wicked ways. They live beyond the tumbling ruins and keep to themselves, when they aren't being tormented by a headhunter tribe, of course. When Fallingstar, the girl Sundog loves but can never have, is promised to the new chief, Sundog accepts his fate and continues his duties. On watch one night, he sees a marvel he can't understand- a helicopter is flying directly at him! Helicopters haven't flown in centuries! When Sundog finds the crash site, he sees an ancient- a man clearly in his fifth or sixth decade who can't be real.

When they take him back to the tribe, the shaman of the tribe wants him killed, so Sundog and Fallingstar break out the old man and run away with him. They travel to the lab the old man claims has the only cure to the nanovirus that has run the world for 300 years. On their way, they are captured by the headhunter tribe. In a holding cage they meet two other kids from two different tribes: one from a tribe that specializes in gadgets and tinkering and another who lost her entire tribe to the headhunters. Together, they escape and continue to the lab, but the headhunters follow them. Now they must find a way to escape and get the cure to the old man's people in the city beneath the sea. Can they survive long enough to get there? To be continued...

Not only is this a BEAUTIFULLY illustrated graphic novel, but it also has something you don't find often in graphic novels- it would only be rated PG-13! Do you understand how difficult it is to find a graphic novel that doesn't have very adult language and situations? I have a great PA graphic novel series called Y: The Last Man that I would love to give to students, but it really is a fairly mature series. The beauty of Tribes is that it is exciting, incredibly illustrated, and clean! This would be a perfect book for students of all ages!

The writing is fairly simple. The only possible confusion is the pattern the frames run in. Most graphic novels run in panels left to right, up to down, but this one deviates from that often. There are a lot of small insets and confusing frame patterns. I can imagine it might confuse or distract a student occasionally, but this doesn't detract horribly from the merits of this story. I think the series (and I can't wait for the next volume) would be perfect for boys and girls alike, but especially boys. There is enough action for everyone!