Torn Away by Jennifer Brown

by:  Jennifer Brown
published by:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
publish date:  May 6, 2014

Jersey Cameron has always loved a good storm. Watching the clouds roll in and the wind pick up. Smelling the electricity in the air. Dancing barefoot in the rain. She lives in the Midwest, after all, where the weather is sure to keep you guessing. Jersey knows what to do when the tornado sirens sound. But she never could have prepared for this.

When her town is devastated by a tornado, Jersey loses everything. As she struggles to overcome her grief, she's sent to live with relatives she hardly knows-family who might as well be strangers. In an unfamiliar place, can Jersey discover that even on the darkest of days, there are some things no tornado can destroy?

Have you seen the movie Into the Storm?  Or those shows on The Weather Channel about tornadoes when people relive their experiences?  This is what this book was like.  
Jersey is left at home alone while her sister and mother head off to dance class when the tornado hits.  After surviving a direct hit by the tornado, Jersey is left to fend for herself for day before she find out that her mother and sister have been killed.  Only her stepfather survived and he is so overcome with grief that he can barely take care of himself, let alone his teenage stepdaughter.  She gets sent to her biological father that she's never met only find herself in a horrible place with people that don't want her.  Jersey's life is spiraling out of control, and she doesn't think there will be anyone left to take care of her.  

This was a great book.  Torn Away was one of the few books that I wanted to go tell my kids to read.  That sounds terrible, but they're not big readers and I think they would really like this one.  It was exciting and heartbreaking, but ultimately had a satisfying conclusion.  I would definitely recommend Torn Away!