Escaping Tornado Season
A story in poems
By Julie Williams

   Allie has lost her dad to lung cancer. She was there for him every moment up until his death. She was in the room asleep on a cot when he took his last breath, a smile on his cold, solemn face. That's a lot for a 14-year-old to live through, especially when she had already lost her twin brother, who was her closest friend, a few years earlier. After the loss of her brother, her father was the one who made sure their birthday was still celebrated. Her mom, it seemed, was more concerned about other things. Now her other cornerstone is gone, and she is stuck in a small town in Minnesota with her grandparents and her distant mother, forced to try to make a fresh start of her broken life. Through all this, she writes. She tries to find words that will help her paint a picture of her experiences, just like her twin brother tried to find a way to show his world through art.

   I LOVE THIS BOOK!! I couldn't put it down for anything. "Escaping Tornado Season" seemed to be a misleading title at first, but as I read on, I found that it was more accurate than any other phrase Williams could have used. I love the fact that the story is told in poems and that, even though the poems are relatively short and simple, the picture painted has more detail than a piece painted by Michelangelo himself. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves the art of poetry and a good cry.