A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld

Title:  A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge

Author:  Josh Neufeld

Release date:  August 17, 2009

Publisher:  Pantheon

Pages:  208

Genre:  Graphic novel, nonfiction, history

Source:  Library

This was a random find at the library, and I’m so happy that it jumped out at me because I hadn’t heard of this book at all before, and it was seriously awesome.  I don’t know why more people aren’t reading it, because you all should be.  Why don’t I explain what it’s about?

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is the story of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, told in graphic novel format.  Except that it’s really not a novel, as it is the story as it pertains to five individuals, real people who survived the storm.  These are five people who Neufeld met in person while doing research on the hurricane and its aftermath, and he decided that he needed to tell all of their stories.  So, using both words and illustrations, he did.

This is a beautiful book.  The artwork is wonderful, and I particularly love Neufeld’s use of color throughout the book.  He kind of used different colors to show different situations and to create different moods.  For me, it really worked.  Here are a few examples of the artwork in the book:

I don’t want to show too much, because I highly encourage everyone to read this one.  But you get the idea.

I also found the individuals in the book to be compelling and relatable.  Each one of them experienced the hurricane in a different way, unique to their particular situations in life, and it was so interesting to see how it affected them all in such drastically different ways – but there was one thing in common:  it hugely impacted their lives.  It destroyed all of their homes, some of their businesses, all of their prized possessions and many of their memories.  Although there were so many differences among these people, reading their stories really served to remind me that so much of what makes us human makes us all very much alike.  The sheer humanity of this book is what really got to me.

I can’t recommend this one enough.  If you like graphic novels, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge just begs to be picked up.  This one’s a winner.

Challenge Completed: War Through the Generations, WWII

I’ve been putting off posting this because I kept thinking I’d read more World War II books this year, but if I think about it there’s only a few weeks left and I don’t have much room for more books to add to what I HAVE to finish this year.  So, I suppose I’ll admit that I am done with this challenge.  I didn’t read as many as I’d hoped to, but I did finish what I committed to so that’s good.  Here’s my list:

1. Night – Elie Wiesel review

2.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Barrows and Annie Shaffer review

3.  Night of Flames – Douglas Jacobson review

4. The True Story of Hansel and Gretel – Louise Murphy review

5.  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne review

I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to do 2010′s War Through the Generations as I have about a million challenges I’ve been signing up for recently.  But they are focusing on the Vietnam war, which I haven’t read too much about , so I probably should join to expand my reading.  We’ll see.

What’s in a Name? 3 Challenge

I loved participating in the What’s in a Name? Challenge its first two years, and now that it’s being taken over by Beth Fish, I’m just as happy and excited about it.  Here are the categories for this year:

1. A book with a food in the title
2. A book with a body of water in the title
3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title
4. A book with a plant in the title
5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title
6. A book with a music term in the title

I’m sure I have books with all of these requirements already on my shelves, so it’s just a matter of locating them and getting some of those TBR books read!

The Flashback Challenge

There are several books I’ve been planning to read for the second time this year, so when I saw a post about Aarti’s Flashback Challenge, I knew I had to join.  I am going to participate at the Scholar level, which is rereading four to six books.  I know I would like to read The Hobbit, Ordinary People, and The Time Traveler’s Wife again this year, but I don’t know which other ones I’ll pick up.  But it’s always nice to revisit an old favorite and this challenge is the perfect way to do so.  So, thanks, Aarti!

The Social Justice Challenge

When I heard about The Social Justice Challenge, hosted by Amy, Natasha, and Hannah, I knew right away that I had to be a part of it.  I care deeply about every single one of the issues the challenge is highlighting and I am so inspired that these three chose to base a reading challenge around the idea of getting educated and doing something about the atrocities that go on in our world.  Each month there is a different theme, and of course there are different levels of participation including actually going out and doing something about what we read.  Here are the twelve themes for the twelve months of the year:

1. Religious Freedom
2. Water
3. Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
4. Hunger
5. AIDS crisis
6. Genocide
7. Poverty
8. Illiteracy and Education
9. Modern Day Slavery
10. Homelessness & Refugees
11. Women’s Rights
12. Child Soldiers and Children in War

Ideally, I’d like to participate at the activist level every month, which is reading at least one book on the subject of the month, choosing one thing from the media list about that subject, and doing one action step around the issue as well.  To meet the challenge requirements, you only have to be an activist for three months but I’d love to do all twelve as I am passionate about each of these topics and I’d love to participate in this one all year.  But realistically, I know that life does get in the way rather frequently and so I’m committing to participating at the activist level for six months.  Hopefully I can do more.

I am so, so excited about this challenge and I’m looking forward to learning more and doing more in the year ahead.