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Yaccarino, Dan

The Longest Storm

40 pp. | Minedition | August, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-6626-5047-5 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-6626-5048-2
(2) K-3 Readers will empathize with Yaccarino's latest, in which a family experiences the ups and downs of unexpected home confinement. When a storm, "unlike any storm we'd ever seen," forces them to stay inside, "maybe for a long while," three children and their father find themselves with "nothing to do and too much time to do it." A series of vignettes traces the family's activities (bathing the dog, arguments over an electronic device, an unfortunate home haircut) as the atmosphere goes from "strange" to "bad, to worse." With everyone disgruntled and getting on each other's nerves, they finally scatter to different parts of the house in order to be alone. When the storm takes a turn for the worse and cloaks the house in complete darkness, the group reunites in fear and vulnerability. As morning breaks, the storm is still there, but "something had changed," and the family's paradigm shift helps them face the duration of the storm with patience and gratitude. In his characteristic flat and bright digital illustrations, Yaccarino (Smashy Town, rev. 5/20) captures the characters' range of emotions, from the stresses of the storm and of irritable tempers to the euphoria of "one impossibly beautiful day" and of renewed family peace. Simultaneously lighthearted and tender, the book reflects the tediousness, camaraderie, and joys of family life--something to which many readers, especially during COVID-19, can relate.
Reviewer: Emmie Stuart | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

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