Island Storm
by Brian Floca
pictures by Sydney Smith
Neal Porter Books (Holiday House), 2025. 48 pages.
Review written December 29, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #10 Picture Books
This picture book story is told in second person, which I usually don’t like, but it works beautifully here.
The wonderful pictures start even before the text. On the title page, there’s a boy and little sister standing at a window looking out. Then the dedication and copyright spread shows a woman collecting clothes blown from a line, plus a cloudy sky and gray sea.
Then we’re looking through a dark hallway to a bright doorway with the kids now wearing boots. And the text says:
Now take my hand
and we’ll go see
the sea before the storm.
The pictures and text show what they pass along the way and the waves smashing on the rocks.
But after this, and after several other interludes, there’s a refrain:
And then we ask, is this enough, or do we try for more?
You pull on me, and I pull on you, and we decide to go on.
And so they keep going on, passing homes with boarded up windows, their neighbor finishing one last walk with her dogs, the town empty of people after folks have finished stocking up.
When the thunder finally starts, they run home, planning on a shortcut through the woods – which ends up being harder in the storm than they’d thought it would be.
You can see the relief on the face of the grown-up with the flashlight who finds them and hugs them. Then they watch the storm through the windows – and the book ends the next day with the sun shining and the sea calm – “And you and I go on.”
I have to say that the amazing pictures, combined with the immediate text, make this book feel like you’re walking with the kids in the storm. This one is much better than I can capture with words alone – so let me encourage you to check it out!
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/island_storm.html
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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