EYE OF THE STORM by Kate Messner

A.R. Book Level:  4.8
A.R. Points: 10.0
Pages:  292


Eye of the Storm is a real page-turner: there’s a monster tornado on the very first page, and it only gets wilder from there.  Jaden is a girl who has grown up in a future world where global warming has caused our regular weather patterns to morph into killer super-storms.  People can only leave their homes for short periods of time and must carry a Data Slate (like a future iPad) to warn them about sudden dangerous weather.  They live their lives constantly looking at the sky and trying to guess how much time they have to get to the nearest “safe room.”  This all changes for Jaden when she goes to spend the summer with her dad in his “storm-free community,” where residents pay big bucks for the promise that they’ll never have bad weather.  As Jaden learns about the technology surrounding this town, she starts to unearth some disturbing secrets.  Readers who love survival stories and who have exhausted my supply of Lauren Tarshis’ I Survived books will want to pick up this one.