ISLAND STORM

 

Order from: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 

Coming July 22, 2025

 

From Publishers Weekly: Cover Reveal: 'Island Storm'

 

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

A July/August 2025 Kids’ Indie Next List Selection

 

Can you tell when a storm is coming? Can you feel the wind coming and growing? Do you hear the branches bouncing together, hear the whispers of the wind through the leaves?

 

Join in the journey as two siblings bear witness to the steady start, thrilling apex, and gentle end of this island storm. They’ll shelter soon, but first they want to feel it all.

 

Sydney Smith is the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international distinction given to authors and illustrators of children's books, and his illustrations are fantastically textured and visually spectacular. Paired with Brian Floca’s eloquent, rhythmic text, Island Storm is a multi-sensory experience that will amaze and delight readers. Children who fear thunder can take comfort in seeing it captured in the pages, while those who relish watching the sky crack open can enjoy battling this storm from the comfort of their homes.

 

★ Publishers Weekly:

 

"The wind blows hard, and two children—one taller, one smaller—pull on their boots. “Now take my hand,” one says, “and we’ll go see/ the sea before the storm.” Caldecott Medalist Floca, here taking the role of author, employs atmospheric verse to describe the children’s unaccompanied escapade: “We see the waves coming,/ pushed from the sea/ to SMASH/ on the rocks.” A neighbor out for a walk suggests that the kids head home, but the two nudge each other forward, returning to a refrain: “And then we ask, is this enough, or do we try for more?” Choosing to go on, they find the streets in town deserted, eerie, gleaming. Hans Christian Andersen Award recipient Smith captures the burgeoning storm’s splendid energy in broad strokes and splashes as the sky suddenly opens up and the children dash for home, braving sheets of rain and tree-bending winds, until they’re met by an adult with a flashlight running toward them: “Home to relief, and to love./ Home to trouble, too!/ Home to forgiveness.” The next morning, the children clamber across rocks on the now-clear shore, an adult nearby: “the view across the water is long./ And you and I go on.” It’s a thrilling story about how a shared exploit can deepen camaraderie and trust—and a dynamic look at the dual powers of nature and volition unleashed. Characters are portrayed with pink skin."

 

★ Kirkus Reviews:

 

"Caldecott Medalist Floca and Hans Christian Andersen Award–winning illustrator Smith tell the story of two youngsters braving a gale. While their parent collects laundry that has flown off the line, the children—presumably siblings—walk away. “Now take my hand / and we’ll go see / the sea before the storm.” At first that seems the beginning and ending of their adventure as they stand on worn stones watching the waves “SMASH on the rocks and EXPLODE into spray.” Then something compels the kids to continue. “You pull on me, I pull on you, and we decide to go on,” the author repeats in what feels like a chant. Only too late do the siblings realize that they’ve gone too far; they race for home through the rapidly approaching dark and rain, toward light and warmth and their relieved parent. Smith’s impressionistic watercolor and gouache illustrations convey not simply the horrifying strength of the storm, but also the way the light of day changes and shifts throughout the kids’ walk. The images plunge readers into heart-stopping moments, rendered real thanks to Floca’s incredibly evocative wordplay, capable of eliciting both fear and comfort. Readers will experience this tempest alongside the characters, every step of the way. Yet the true heart and soul of the book resides in the siblings’ relationship as they weather the weather—and more—together. The characters are light-skinned.

The power of nature captivates and compels in this phenomenal tale of pushing limits."

 

★ BCCB:

 

"Two siblings bravely venture outside late one day, eager to witness and feel the weight of an impending storm. They watch the ocean waves crashing against stones, and they pass by boarded-up houses on the road while neighbors urge them to return home. Undeterred, they press on, weaving through marshes and meadows, until they reach a town with rain-slicked streets. Suddenly, a deafening clap of thunder shakes the sky, and a storm roars to life, chasing them all the way back home until it finally settles at dawn.... Smith’s watercolor and gouache artwork complements Floca’s expressive use of onomatopoeia and alliteration, especially on the dramatic, ever-changing textures of the muted-tone clouds. In the skies, thick and thin swirling brushstrokes add a soft and feathery quality to each cloud until they briskly shift into humongous, layered murky blots that ominously loom over the town in full spreads. As the storm gives frantic chase, the slanted linework conveys the directional force of the wind and rain bending the tree branches, while the framing perspective of the siblings’ house’s window brings a welcome steadiness as the storm gradually subsides outside. Despite the somber mood and tone of the narrative, the recurring refrain when the siblings hold hands, “You pull on me, I pull on you, and we decide to go on,” reflects their deep trust in each other, reassuring young readers that, even in the face of life’s storms—both literal and figurative—they do not have to face them alone." —Danica Ronquillo

 

★ Booklist:

 

"A boy and his little sister venture out into their island town to “see / the sea before the storm”—but before the text even begins, illustrator Smith, wizard that he is, has already conjured the story's stirring emotions through an interior title page heavy with a longing sense of nostalgia and a dedication page filled by darkening gray-blue skies, tilted trees, a fluttering laundry line, and a woman chasing down some garments blown free. As the storm approaches, the siblings watch growing waves crash into the shore; they pass boarded-up homes and various landmarks of their eerily empty town. Between each section of the homey island tour, they pause to consider retreat—but press forward with the refrain “You pull on me, I pull on you, and we decide to go on.” When thunder booms, though, they run. The blotted watercolor and gouache art takes on a diagonal blur as rain torrents muddle every spread, until they finally reach the safety of home and their mother's arms. Floca's poetic text carries all the quiet suspense and crashing weight of an approaching gale, colored by enough loving detail of setting that it finds something powerfully universal in the specific. An oddly moving ode to childhood, home, and sibling bonds, set to the awesome bass line of nature." — Ronny Khuri

 

Shelf Awareness:

 

"On one level, this is a simple adventure tale: two children outrun a storm. But it's one that holds many layers of meaning. This brush with danger is a test of resilience—perhaps the kind of resilience the siblings have had to summon before—and captures the unwavering bond between them. The repeated refrain reminds readers they navigate challenges together.

 

Floca fills the text with sensory details: "We take the gravel road that leads down to the cove, a crunch with every step." His writing is imbued with a gentle rhythm, internal rhymes, and alliteration. It's a text that begs to be read aloud: "We stand on stones that lie like great bones, weathered and worn by water and time...."

 

Illustrator Sydney Smith captures the storm's kinetic energy—its force and beauty—as if the waves themselves are moving across the pages. He builds tension through a striking watercolor and gouache palette: massive dark clouds loom over the island, later juxtaposed with clear blue skies as the storm recedes. Double-page spreads feature horizontal illustrative vignettes with text between the images, accelerating the action and emphasizing the children's movement across the island and their urgent return home.

 

A masterful blend of poetic language and dynamic illustration, this story delivers both an edge-of-your-seat adventure and a moving meditation on perseverance and the storms siblings weather together." —Julie Danielson (Full review here.)

 

July/August 2025 Kids’ Indie Next List:

 

“This is beautiful. The perfect match of text and image bring an island storm to life. You can feel the anxiety. You can hear the cry of the neighbor to ‘go home’ just as you can hear the wind building, the thunder rumbling, and the trees creaking.” —Kristine Jelstrom-Hamill, Buttonwood Books and Toys, Cohasset, MA