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Flip through the book of pictures and essays about Hurricane Katrina from the students in the Biloxi School District, and you will be struck by the honesty and pure emotion of what the students experienced.
Katrina affected everyone, but sometimes we believe children are too young to understand the depth of the damage - physical and emotional. Look at this book and you'll realize that is clearly not true.
Children's author Barbara McGrath compiled the book from essays and pictures created by students, which is titled, "The Storm: Students of Biloxi, Mississippi, Remember Hurricane Katrina."
The book, published by Charlesbridge, is available nationally at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the school district.
Some students wrote about evacuating and how they missed their homes and friends; others wrote and drew pictures of what it was like to go through the storm in South Mississippi.
Jasmine Ray, an eighth-grader at the time, probably summed it up best when she wrote, "A morning of thunder/A morning of rain/A morning of sorrow/A morning of pain."
Some of the drawings depict houses flying through the air; others show waves crashing into houses and people being rescued from the water and the tops of buildings.
Some students wrote and drew about the aftermath of the storm, both the destruction and what life was like after Katrina.
"My house drowned," said Vy Pham, a kindergartner when the storm hit.
Sixth-grader Ro'Darius Woulard wrote, "After the storm I returned to Biloxi and found my home broken in two and leaning to the left."
But the students also wrote about hope - the surviving buildings and people and the thousands of volunteers who came to South Mississippi to help.
"Hurricane Katrina has changed me," wrote Danielle Johnson, a sixth-grader last year. "I'm like a whole new person. I see things differently... I was mad at first. Then I thought it could be a new beginning."
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