Until I'm Safe by Jane Grace
Print Length: 234 pages
ISBN: 1680460862
Publisher: Fire and Ice Young Adult
Books; First edition (May 7, 2015)
Book Description:Does she stay and possibly get shot by her crazed father or run into the storm of the century, Hurricane Katrina?
Marguerite Aucoin has no choice but to run! Like the fiction heroine she writes about, a teen named Toots Gentry, Marguerite must be brave, despite the fact she’s lost both hearing aids and is virtually deaf.
Amand rescues Marguerite from the swirling bayou waters. At his home, she awakes but doesn’t speak, writing her name, Toots Gentry. With time, he learns her secrets, and discovers someone’s trying to kill her. But’s he’s fallen in love with Marguerite and is determined to protect her.
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| Fence near Hurricane Katrina Memorial |
I purchased Until I’m Safe last month and was pretty excited about it for a few
reasons. For starters, the main character 17-years-old Marguerite is an
African-American deaf character. Aside from Jacqueline Woodson’s secondary
character Sean in Feathers (2007) and
Kief Hillsbery's Radboy in War Boy (2000), I haven’t found any
more African-American characters that are deaf in adolescent literature. And, Marguerite is the first female African-American
deaf character that I’ve ever found in adolescent literature!
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| Hurricane Katrina Memorial |
Another reason I was excited about
this book is that I visited New Orleans in April and then again in June this
year. Both times I visited the Hurricane Katrina Memorial. The memorial is
located in a cemetery that was originally opened by Charity hospital
in 1848 and was known as Potter’s Field since it was historically used for the
poor, unclaimed bodies and those suffering from various epidemics (e.g. yellow
fever). These individuals were brought to Charity to be buried in unmarked
graves and at times of great illness that overtook the city, the individuals
were buried in mass graves. Estimates vary about how many are actually buried
here. The range includes between 100,000 and 150,000 souls. This is also one of
the few New Orleans cemeteries where all are buried underground, as opposed to
above ground mausoleums. Four years after the hurricane, the Katrina Memorial
was built on the site of this hospital. With this addition, Charity Hospital
now includes several tombs, which hold the remains of those individuals who
were not identified from the hurricane in 2005. Having this experience really added to my reading of the novel.
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| Hurricane Katrina Memorial, New Orleans |
Along the way, Marguerite loses her
hearing aids and meets a lab she names Patronus (Marguerite takes Latin in
school and knows that this means *protector*). Just when Marguerite thinks she
has reached help she realizes that her uncle, like most others from the
neighborhood, has evacuated New Orleans. She continues on her journey when even
more disaster happens. Two kind souls rescue her but because she is scared and
uncertain whom to trust, she gives the name Toots Gentry, a fictional character
from the stories she writes and publishes in Teen Ink Magazine. She also says that she’s deaf instead of hard of
hearing and pretends that she’s unable to speak or follow what the family is
saying. Because of this, many of the characters communicate with Marguerite
through writing.
The story is full of surprises and
adventures. It also includes a bit of voodoo which adds an interesting plot
point to the story. There is also a love story that doesn’t get too racy but as
always if you’re recommending this book be sure to read it first.
I was fortunate enough to be able to
interview YA author Jane Grace. In the picture you can see her with her own dog
named Summer. I completely forgot to follow-up and ask questions about Patronus
but it seems Ms. Grace is a fan of pups!
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| Summer & author Jane Grace |
**********Read below for my
interview with Jane Grace**********
SP: What inspired you to include a
Hard-of-Hearing character like Marguerite in your novel?
JG: Those of us who watched the
drama of Katrina unfold on TV saw the looting and rescue, mayhem and miracles.
But I wanted a heroine that walked just outside that line of Katrina, near but
not in the immediate situation. Therefore she flees the New Orleans area,
headed for safety. However it's not enough to put your heroine in danger; she
must have other odds to overcome, fears to face on a personal level. As a
teacher, my junior high students often included deaf or hard of hearing
students. I have no idea just when the thought came to me that my
heroine Marguerite should be such a young woman. But once the idea
was born, the whole novel plot fell into place.
SP: What research did you do to make
the character believable?
JG:
I read about those with hearing impairments and recalled the
accommodations we did for my students. My editor has a hard of hearing daughter
and she advised me on a few points…To be honest, at any point where I wasn't
certain how my character should act, I recalled one of my deaf students who had
an interpreter and one of my hard of hearing students who often waited too long
to get new batteries in her aids so we endured a class of squeaks and mechanic
sounds until she did. As for making a seventeen year old girl believable, I not
only worked with 13--15 year olds but my students in high school next door
often visited. So developing the personality of a 17 year old came a little
easier than it might for someone else.
SP: What research did you do in
connection with Hurricane Katrina?
JG: Here I had to do a lot of
research to make my time line correct. I studied weather events and wind as
well as sea levels. I contacted a reporter who worked in Morgan City during
Katrina and got her first hand insight into conditions there. Any
mis-directions or mis-information in the story related to Katrina or the Morgan
City community are entirely mine. I live 100 miles inland from Galveston Island
in Texas where Hurricane Ike entered in 2008. I've lived in the path of
hurricanes all my life.
SP: What do you hope that readers
will take away or learn from Until I’m Safe?
JG: First of all, that a person is
often stronger than he or she thinks, disabled or not. Being brave often
involves nothing more than creativity and patience. Second, safety is where you
find it, not where you think it might be. Once you feel safe, your heart will
let you know. I want readers to see how those of varied ages and backgrounds
can grow into a family, even if there's no blood connection. And last, love means
fighting on another day or ending your days in a sacrifice willingly given.
Love keeps a person safe.
SP: What advice do you have for
young readers?
JG: If you enjoy reading, keep doing
it! The more you read the better you become. If you love to write stories, even
little short ones, then keep doing that. The more you write, the better you
become. If you enjoy doing something positive and creative then continue, for
some day you may share your passion with others.
SP: Anything you'd like to add?
JG: Writing this story became a
labor of love. I still smile at all the right spots and cry at those that touch
my heart. I can only hope the reader enjoys the story as much and comes away
mindful of those who can't hear, how they must adapt to a world that hears. In
other words, it takes all of us to make the world go around.
