Chasing Helicity
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Helicity is well aware that her name is unusual - kind of like Helicity herself. The word Helicity means to spin, and for as long as she can remember, Helicity has been fascinated by the weather. The weather is Helicity's escape from her own reality - may that be school, her father's strict discipline, or her brother's imminent departure for college where he's all set to play football. One fateful day, Helicity and her horse head out on a long ride to take a break from life at home. Even with her vast experience with weather, Helicity is unprepared for the elements she faces. The choices Helicity makes before, during, and after that storm will have a lasting effect on her family and her future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Thirteen-year-old Helicity Dunlap, named after a physics term relating to a particle's spin, loves storms, science, and math. After she isn't placed in honors classes for the coming school year, she goes for a horseback ride and is far from home when a tornado hits. Helicity's western Michigan town is destroyed, and her football-star older brother is injured while searching for her. In the aftermath, Helicity meets a meteorologist/storm chaser named Lana who gets her a handsome tutor named Sam, so that Helicity can prove to her parents that she belongs in the honors classes. It takes her father some time to come around, but Helicity is eventually allowed to go on a storm-chasing trip with Lana and Sam. But tragedy strikes there, too, and a cliffhanger sets up a sequel. Meteorologist Zee deftly balances the science of storms, their fascination to storm chasers, and Helicity's angst and family problems. Readers should easily relate to Helicity's longing to follow her passion: "Wind, moisture, pressure, temperature there was so much about the weather that she didn't know, and so much she wanted to understand." Ages 8 12.
