Natural Disaster Fiction

In a tiny settlement on the west coast of Greenland, 11-year-old Aleq and his best friend, frequent trespassers at a mining site exposed to mountains of long-buried and thawing permafrost, carry what they pick up back into their village, and from there Shepard's harrowing and deeply moving story follows Aleq, one of the few survivors of the initial outbreak, through his identification and radical isolation as the likely index patient.

We first meet Zwazo Delalun, or Zo, during his childhood, in the 1990s, in a fishing village on the western tip of Haiti. An orphan, he learns to swim and fish, then to harvest almonds and cut cane. He travels the island in his youth, finding work wherever he can. One morning, while hauling cement in the broiling sun, he meets Anaya, a nursing student who is sipping cherry juice under a tree. Their attraction is instantaneous, fierce; what grows between them feels like the destiny-changinglove Zo has yearned for.

Battered, bruised, but alive, Helicity Dunlap rides out a hurricane in the Bolivar Peninsula Lighthouse in Texas. She somehow manages to keep herself safe, and to even rescue a lost dog in the process. After a day in the hospital, she, her mom, and Sam make the two-day drive back to Western Michigan. They leave Andy and their dad behind, as Andy is finally going to get the help he needs in an addiction rehabilitation facility. Much to her dismay, Helicity ends up in the spotlight

It's the summer of AD 79, and Flavia Gemina the sea captain's daughter -along with her friends Jonathan the Jewish boy, Nubia the African slave-girl, and Lupus the homeless beggar-boy - set sail for the Bay of Naples, to stay with Flavia's uncle near Pompeii. They are soon absorbing in trying to solve a riddle that may lead to treasure. But then tragedy strikes - Mount Vesuvius erupts and the children are fleeing for their lives from one of the worst natural disasters ever recorded.

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 left death and destruction in its wake, but young Elsie Drummond survived. In this volume of the Young Texans Series, we return to 1900, a time without effective hurricane tracking technology or warning systems. Elsie Drummond is celebrating her 11th birthday with friends when the storm approaches. As the hurricane gathers intensity, Elsie's mother escorts the party guests home and instructs the young girl to prepare for the onslaught of the storm.