Since Abe can no longer keep Cruz, Barry takes him. Jay’s family is in another city, but the boys still make long-distance plans to recreate their superhero comic. Barry is thrilled and relieved to be reunited with his family there.Īfter leaving New Orleans a few days later, Barry’s father gets a job offer at a music school in New York. They are eventually rescued by a worker in a boat and taken to one of the city’s many shelters. The two struggle to survive when Cruz falls off the house and Barry goes in after him. He pulls the dog to a higher place in the floating house, then gives him food and water. Barry realizes Cruz is scared, too, and he needs help. He discovers it is Abe’s house, and the scary dog is lurking below. Barry grabs onto the house and pulls himself inside. He is swept into the rushing water.īarry clutches a tree for a while, until a house floats by and comes crashing into it.

They huddle on the roof together, but Barry falls off. Eventually, Dad has to tear a hole in the roof with an axe. Barry and his family retreat to the attic. A day or so later, wind and water begin to pummel the house. The family decides they’d better return home and hope for the best. Cleo begins vomiting repeatedly because of a stomach virus. The Tuckers spend several hours on the crowded road out of town, barely moving.

When evacuations become mandatory, Barry and his family pack up to leave the city. Like most people in their neighborhood, they pay little attention to the repeated warnings on the radio concerning a massive hurricane. They avoid a bully named Abe and his scary dog, Cruz. Barry and his friend Jay work eagerly on the superhero cartoon they plan to enter in a contest soon. Eleven-year-old Barry Tucker lives with his parents and little sister, Cleo, in New Orleans’ lower ninth ward.

Ninth ward book review