The Year We Fell From Space by Amy Sarig King

Liberty’s whole life changes when her parents announce they’re getting a divorce. Liberty turns to the stars for guidance, like she always has, but she’s not able to map out new constellations like she used to. She reads these constellations like a horoscope, so she’s lost without them. Her connection with the stars feels severed, which is how she feels about her dad, who moved out and hasn’t called or visited in months. But still, Liberty asks the skies for answers, and when they reply by sending a meteorite, she’s determined to crack the universe’s code.

This book deftly handles changing family dynamics, friendships, bullying, and depression in a way that reads like fiction but feels like therapy.

The Disaster Days by Rebecca Behrens

Hannah is babysitting for the second time in her life. She's taken a safety course for babysitters with her friend, and she'll just be at her neighbor's house, but after forgetting her inhaler one too many times, Hannah's mom isn't sure Hannah's responsible enough to be in charge of other kids. Hannah is determined to prove her mother wrong, and is doing a good job until an earthquake shakes the Seattle area and Hannah and the kids are stranded in a damaged house with limited supplies without knowing when someone can come to help.

This book was billed as a cross between Hatchet (which I did not like at all) and The Baby-Sitters Club (which I loved and still love to this day!), so I knew I had to give it a try. I'm so glad I did! This book was fantastic - so realistic, eye-opening, and suspenseful. Though I'm biased because I'm not a Hatchet fan because it seemed too unbelievable, I would diplomatically more compare this book to the Life as We Knew It series by Susan Beth Pfeffer, which also deals with a natural disaster and coping with the aftermath in a realistic way. I had to keep myself from skipping forward to see how many days Hannah and the kids were stranded because the suspense was almost too much to bear!

I finished this book before bed one night, and storms raged all night - which I found peaceful. Little did I know, storms in my city meant a deadly tornado in Nashville, just a few hours to my east. This book plus that tornado made me realize how important it is to be prepared for anything - something Behrens helpfully addresses at the end of this book.