Synopsis
Lorraine: The Girl Who Sang the Storm Away by Ketch Secor is such a joyful book! Lorraine and her grandpa “Pa Paw” love music and spend their days singing and playing instruments of all sorts on his farm in Tennessee. One day their instruments, including Lorraine’s favorite penny whistle, disappear.
That same evening a storm comes and Lorraine gets scared. Pa Paw encourages her to find a way to make her own music in order to sing the storm away. She and Pa Paw make it through the storm and the following day, with the Tennessee sun back out and shining, they discover who took their instruments. Hint: it’s one of the pesky farm animals!
Review
As I said above, this book is so light and happy that you can’t help but feel uplifted while reading. The gorgeous illustrations by Higgins Bond are vibrant and add so much to the story. They are in fact so realistic that they resemble actual photographs. Ketch Secor is a Grammy award-winning songwriter and it really shows through the lively and rhythmic text. This diverse story succeeds in showing the power of music and of strong family bonds.
This post is part of my five-part series highlighting multicultural children’s literature.
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