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Kids write children's book about hurricanes

Panhandle fourth-graders put their experiences with Hurricane Ivan on paper to help others deal with storms.

GULF BREEZE - What started as a classroom exercise has become a children's book about hurricanes, written and illustrated by 23 fourth-graders who endured one last year.

When the Hurricane Blew: the Story, the Tips, the Games by Hurricane Kids for Hurricane Kids went on sale Thursday for $16.95 at stores in the Florida Panhandle and on the Internet at BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com.

Gulf Breeze Elementary School teacher Shelley Mann had asked her class to write about their experiences during Hurricane Ivan, when classes resumed 19 days after the storm devastated the Pensacola area, including this suburb.

"Some of the kids had lost everything, but they came together," Mann said. "They turned a frightening event into something that will help other children. It's the sweetest story I ever heard."

Her pupils agreed to donate their 30 percent royalty from each 34-page book sold to help other children affected by hurricanes. They also created Hurricane Kids Network Inc., a nonprofit group raising money for children victimized by hurricanes.

Ten-year-old Marissa Cain, a co-author, said she hoped the book will bring comfort to other kids affected by a series of hurricanes that have struck the Southeast over the past two years.

"It will show them they're not the only ones who have been through this, and they will get through it eventually, but the memories will stay with them," she said.

Kim Doyle was stunned when the other children provided a bag of items to replace things her daughter, Emily, another co-author, lost when Ivan destroyed their home.

"It was a hard transition, but the children helped each other through it," she said. "They are all superstars."

Mann said the book grew out of a class discussion of members' memories of Ivan.

"I didn't want my class to forget the things that happened to them," she said. "I saw this huge list of stuff that took up the whole wall, and it was adorable. I thought, "That's a book right there.' "

[Last modified October 14, 2005, 01:40:20]