Hurricane by Jason Chin: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

  

Today's Featured Book: 

Hurricane

by Jason Chin

Genre: Children's nonfiction

Published: May 6, 2025

Page Count: 50 pages

Summary: 

It’s a beautiful day on Hatteras Island, North Carolina. But while all seems calm now, a hurricane is barreling across the Atlantic, and everyone is wondering when it will hit the U.S. coast. And where.

Night and day, meteorologists use satellites to monitor the storm. Brave pilots fly directly into the tempest, dodging lightning bolts to gather crucial data. Back on the island, families board up windows, drag furniture upstairs, and stock survival kits to prepare for what may come. From its dramatic opening, Hurricane alternates between striking maps charting the hurricane’s progress and daily life on the island.

Jason Chin, winner of the Caldecott Medal for Watercress (written by Andrea Wang) and the Sibert Medal for Life After Whale (written by Lynn Brunelle) combines breathtaking artwork and clear, compelling text to make Hurricane a gripping read for all ages. At the end, find even more information about hurricanes, with visual aids for deeper understanding.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

A storm is raging over the Atlantic Ocean...

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

The hurricane is likely to knock out power, block roads, and cut off the island. 

Jason Chin at IRA in San Antonio in 2013, 

autographing a copy of Coral Reefs for my school library

I'm crazy about picture book author/illustrator Jason Chin. I think I've only seen him once (photo above) at the International Reading Association Conference in San Antonio in 2013 (my post about the conference), but I do know that I've loved every book he has written. 

Jason Chin is one of those wonderful nonfiction authors who knows how to share facts while he tells a story. His books all have a strong scientific basis. And his illustrations are lovely.

Here are some of his other books you might like. 

Redwoods.    Island: A Story of the Galapagos.    Your Place in the Universe.   The Universe in You: A Microscopic Journey.      

Grand Canyon.    Coral Reefs.     Gravity.

Jason Chin Serendipity

Last week I'm reading Hurricane and I'm thinking about all the other wonderful Jason Chin books I've read when I get an email from the Rosenberg Library in Galveston:

Experience the traveling exhibition of Jason Chin’s original artwork from the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL) on our library's second floor. The exhibition includes 75 works of watercolor on paper, mixed media, and inkjet prints. View this extraordinary exhibition before it travels away on Aug. 6!

Well, goodness, I had to go, didn't I? So off I went to the wonderful Rosenberg Library with my friend Cindy. I took some photos so you can see how it went, too.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

June 20th - 26th - Have you ever ventured out of your preferred genres? If so, were you surprised you enjoyed the book? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Review)

I am not a person who, in general, reads genre fiction. But when I have been told about a good mystery or a good romance or a good scifi book or a good fantasy, I've usually enjoyed it.

  

The 2025 Houston Bookstore Crawl: LIT Java Coffee & Books in Pearland, Texas

 

I was delighted to participate in the Second Annual Houston Bookstore Crawl #HTXBookCrawl25 in April. Here is a map I made of the twenty-five indie bookstores in the Houston area.

How it worked: I picked up a crawl card at Then & Now Bookstore in Galveston, one of the 25 participating stores. I got my card stamped or signed by each of the stores I visited through the end of April. Once I visited 10, I submitted my card to any of the participating bookstores to be entered into a raffle for gifts. Every store I hit after the first 10 counts as an additional entry. The cards had to be turned in by the end of business on April 30.

April 26 was Indie Bookstore Day, and indie bookstores all over the US hosted events. Take a look at the map here to see what events were held in April.

Say hello to the Participating Bookstores:

Basket Books & Art · Blue Willow Bookshop · Books Abound · The Book Attic · Books by the Bay · The Book Readers Venue · Brazos Bookstore · Buy the Book · Candescent Books · CLASS Bookstore · Copperfield's Books · Dreamers Books + Culture · Good Books in the Woods · Good on Paper Books and Stationery · Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics · Houston Book Warehouse · Kaboom Books · Katy Budget Books · Kindred Stories · LIT bookbar · LIT Java Coffee & Books · Mossrose Bookshop · Murder by The Book · Then & Now Bookshop · Village Books

I visited twelve bookstores in April. 

Here is my seventh bookstore: 

LIT Java Coffee & Books is a BIPOC, veteran, women owned, and online bookstore. LIT believes that books are powerful tools with the capability to bring people together, dispel misconceptions, and challenge thinking.

The bookstore operates according to what it calls Our 5 Cs:

1) Curated Literary Experiences

2) Community

3) Cultural Diversity

4) Connections

5) Conversations over LIT cups of Coffee!

LIT Java Coffee & Books

5018 West Broadway Street

Pearland, Texas

346-409-1730

If you are wondering, yes, that's Pear-Land, not Pearl-Land. When I was growing up in my little town of Alvin, Pearland was the closest town to us that was a lot like us---maybe 5,000 people, predominantly rural, yet very progressive. And one of the farm crops was pears. 

Now---look out! Pearland has ballooned to almost 129,000 people, and it's delightfully diverse.

I was very excited to try out this bookstore. Of all the indie bookstores in the Houston area, this one is actually the closest one to me. And it is not only a bookstore, but it's also a coffeeshop. Win, win.

It's a great bookstore/coffeeshop space.

I did not have time on this visit to try the coffee, but my book-loving friend Rae has, and she loved it. I must go back soon.

Rae loved this bookstore so much that she is willing (Rae is 80) all the books in her small bookstore to this one after she passes. This bookstore has a charming community spirit.

What I bought.

For more photos, link up at Wordless Wednesday, Comedy Plus, Messymimi's Meanderings, Keith's Ramblings, Create With Joy, Wild Bird Wednesday, and My Corner of the World.

Books I May (or May Not) Read This Summer

Books I May (or May Not) Read This Summer

• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (currently reading)

• Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome (currently reading)  

• The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger (currently reading)  

 

• The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown 

• Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff 

• Brendon Chase by B.B.

 

 

• Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor   
• James by Percival Everett    

• The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

 

• There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone       
• Everyone Who is Gone is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer 

    

• Impossible City: Paris in the 21st Century by Simon Kuper 

• A Bakery in Paris by Aimee K. Runyan 
• Une rose seule by Muriel Barbery

 

 

• An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi

• Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing by Lili Taylor  

• Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasures by J. Frank Dobie

 

• A New New Me by Helen Oyeyemi  

• Katabasis by R. F. Kuang 

 

• Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World by Scott Shigeoka

• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat  

• Aflame: Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer 
• The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace & Renewal edited by James Crews 

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.    

The Sunday Salon: The 41st Classics Club Spin...and the Spinner...Stops...on...Number...

  

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

What I Read Last Week:

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt

What I'm Reading Now:

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome

The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger

"Read the best books first, 

or you may not have a chance to read them at all."

  ---Thoreau

The Classics Club has issued the announcement of the Classics Club’s 41st CC Spin.

What is the spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, before next Sunday, June 15th, create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.

This is your Spin List.

You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.

On Sunday, June 15th, The Classics Club will post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by Sunday, August 24th. 

Let's see who can make it the whole way and finish their spin book!

I have a brand-new Classics Club list. Let's see where the needle stops.

So here is my list.

1. Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasure by J. Frank Dobie

2. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

3. The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse

4. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor

5. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson

6. The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes

7. The Trial by Franz Kafka

8. Brendon Chase by B. B.

9. Old Herbaceous by Reginald Arkell

10. In the Mountains by Elizabeth von Arnim

11. The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown

12. Warrior Scarlett by Rosemary Sutcliff

13. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

14. One Man's Meat by E. B. White

15. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh

16. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

17. Afoot in England by W. H. Hudson

18. The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley

19. A Lost Lady by Willa Cather

20. Village School by Miss Read 

Have you read any of these?

Do you recommend any of these?

And the spinner...stops...on...number...

Hurray! It's The Swish of the Curtain,

one of the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read!

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is coming August 9 through August 24. You lucky folks who live in Europe can attend in person, but, happily, those of us on the other side of the world can also attend some of the sessions via Zoom. Here are the sessions I would love to attend:

Storytelling Yoga with Radhika Sanghani

Robert Macfarlane: Is A River Alive?

There's a Bear on my Chair with Ross Collins

Zinemaking with Katie Quinn

Poetry Pharmacy with Deborah Alma

Olga Wojtas: Never Underestimate a Librarian

2025 International Booker Prize: Meet the Winners

The Front List: Maggie O’Farrell

Creative Repair: A Junk Journals Workshop with Rachel Hazell

The Front List: Anne Applebaum & Edward Wong

Colum McCann: Heart of Darkness at the Bottom of the Sea

Donna Ashworth: An Ode to Women

Dragon Training with Cressida Cowell

Discover the Secrets of Bees with Ben Hoare

Jonathan Freedland: Defying a Dictator

Pocket Shakespeare with Chris Riddell & Michael Rosen

Chloe Dalton: Raising Hare

The Front List: R F Kuang

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Houston Bookstore Crawl 2025: Class Bookstore

The Sunday Salon: It's Summer: Swim Class and Seashells and Butterflies and My Guitar and Gardening Plus a Little Hope

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Looking for hope...

What if Robert Frost's Neighbor Was Right? by Margaret Renkl

Naomi Shihab Nye suggests we write to help us here.

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Baby House Sparrows!

The parents were bringing

the babies food right 

outside our kitchen window.

Good Thing #2:

Certified Wildlife Habitat:

Just a way of (1) telling our neighbors that 

what might look unkempt is purposeful and

(2) giving the National Wildlife Federation 

a nice donation.

Good Thing #3:

No Kings Day!

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.