Tornado

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4-Through well-chosen incidents and details, this transitional novel captures the love between a boy and a dog. While waiting for a storm to pass, the family farmhand Pete tells stories of his childhood and his dog. In the first episode, the dog arrives, doghouse and all, during a twister, so Pete names him Tornado. In the next three stories, the animal demonstrates a card trick, inadvertently holds a pet turtle in his mouth for an hour, and feuds nonviolently with a cat. The last two chapters tell how Pete has to return his pet to its original owner, and how Tornado returns to the boy. Short, crisp sentences in large print surrounded by ample white space make this short book accessible to readers new to chapter books. Each chapter features a realistically rendered, full-page, black-and-white illustration that is more somber than book's tone but adds to Tornado's personality. The stories are set in a frame that may confuse young readers slightly; it has two first-person narrators. An unnamed young boy opens the book and tells how he and his family hide in a cellar to escape a tornado. Four of the six chapters open with him or one of his brothers asking Pete to tell another story, then continue with Pete's voice telling of the past. Nevertheless this is an excellent easy chapter book that would work well for reading aloud. Once again Byars combines clear, concise writing with a sure instinct for what appeals to children.Kathleen Odean, Moses Brown School, Providence, RICopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 3^-5. When a tornado is sighted, a boy's family rushes to the storm cellar. Anxious about the father, who's still in the cornfield, they listen to the storm overhead and to the stories related by their farmhand, Pete, about Tornado, the dog he knew and loved as a boy. Framed by the progress of the current twister, the five interior chapters are Tornado tales. The first concerns a storm that blew the dog and his doghouse into Pete's life; another tells of Tornado's dealings with a cat; yet another relates the dog's ability to do a card trick. One full-page, shaded pencil drawing appears in each chapter. The episodes are fairly short and the print large. The handsome illustrations by Doron Ben-Ami give the volume a more distinguished, less juvenile look than the typical chapter book and convey the story's drama, warmth, and occasional humor. Parents and teachers will find this an excellent book to read aloud, and dog lovers of any age will find it irresistible. Carolyn Phelan

Book Description
When a doghouse landed in the backyard during a tornado, the family wasn't really surprised. What did surprise them was that there was a dog inside, whom they named Tornado. Each chapter of this gently humorous book by award-winning author Betsy Byars tells a different adventure, and together they chronicle how this unique dog becomes a special part of the family.

00-01 Minnesota's Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award Masterlist 00 Natn'l Christian School Assoc. Children's Crown Classic Award

Card catalog description
As they wait out a tornado in their storm cellar, a family listens to their farmhand tell stories about the dog that was blown into his life by another tornado when he was a boy.

About the Author
Betsy Byars is a widely read and loved author of many award-winning middle-grade books for children, including Summer Of The Swans (Viking), a 1971 Newbery Medal winner. The Pinballs was an ALA Notable Children's Book in 1977 as well as the basis for an ABC Afterschool Special. Other books she has written for HarperCollins are Good-bye, Chicken Little; The Seven Treasure Hunts, illustrated by Jennifer Barrett; and three I Can Read Books, the popular The Golly Sisters Go West, Hooray For The Golly Sisters!, and The Golly Sisters Ride Again, all illustrated by Sue Truesdell. Ms. Byars lives in Clemson, South Carolina, with her husband.


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Pete, a farmhand-storyteller, comforts and amuses a boy and his family while they anxiously wait out a tornado in their storm cellar. He tells them tales of his dog, Tornado, so named because the dog and his doghouse were blown into Pete's yard during a twister when Pete was a boy. While the storm rages above, Pete describes how Tornado almost swallowed a pet turtle and how he performed his one card trick. The seven, brief chapters, written in simple but humorous language, make this a good beginning chapter book.


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