Nowhere Better Than Here

Starred review from September 1, 2022

Gr 4-7-Thirteen-year-old Jillian Robichaux adores her small southern Louisiana town, where she lives with her mama and Nonnie. When a storm with no name brings too much rain, homes and businesses in Boutin flood and the school is badly damaged. Jillian and her classmates are sent by bus to another school 40 miles inland. To make matters even more complicated, Jillian's mostly absent, less-than-dependable dad is sleeping on the couch temporarily. As she learns about Louisiana's coastal erosion problem, Jillian becomes determined to save her hometown, throwing herself into a huge petition and a time-consuming history project-but she can't shake the feeling that home will never be the same again. This lovingly rendered, authentic portrayal of the people and culture of south Lousiana illustrates an ecological concept that may be unfamiliar to readers outside the state. Compelling, intelligent characters and opportunities for learning that don't read like a textbook combine for a valuable, unique story exploring the way the landscape and environment are deeply embedded in the lives and hearts of those from the Louisiana coastline. Cajun dialect and colloquialisms and vivid descriptions of the setting add to the narrative's strong sense of place. Middle grade readers will identify with Jillian's struggle to find a way to accept things that are beyond her control while still working to create meaningful change. All main characters are white. VERDICT A poignant and emotional exploration of a people and place worth preserving. Recommended for all collections serving young people.-Allie Stevens

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Starred review from October 17, 2022
Necessity and nostalgia clash in a small Louisiana town, where 13-year-old Jillian Robichaux fears the loss of her enclave and her Cajun identity in this timely story. Even when stormwaters repeatedly flood Boutin and damage its only school, Jillian urges her mother and grandmother to stay put: without familiar pastimes such as shrimping the bayous, “I was afraid I had no idea who I was.” A photo of a long-gone diner, paired with sights of empty stilts that once supported houses and for-sale signs on waterlogged property, leaves Jillian desperate to save her community, where even the graves are submerged (“Boutin would become just like Eternal Rest Cemetery: full of ghosts, then full of water”). To drum up support for historic preservation, Jillian documents longtime residents’ memories and starts a petition to rebuild the school. Guillory’s determined heroine faces a rising tide on all sides, coping with an estranged father, his neglected puppy (who adores Jillian), and a best friend as eager to leave Boutin as Jillian is to remain. Guillory (Reclaimed) develops Jillian sympathetically via a colloquial first-person voice, showing how she redefines her relationship with home without compromising her love. Protagonists read as Cajun; secondary characters include Black representation. Ages 8–12. Agent: Alice Sutherland-Hawes, ASH Literary.

February 17, 2023
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* For 13-year-old Jillian Robichaux, home is Boutin, the small, tight-knit town in coastal Louisiana where she lives with her divorced mother and Nonnie, her grandmother. For decades, Boutin has suffered from rising waters and a dwindling population. But after new storms flood the area and damage her school, Jillian realizes that her mother is considering moving away. For a girl who can't count on her absent father to keep his promises, the thought of leaving the support system of her friends and neighbors as well as the beauty of nature around her is overwhelming. While leading a movement to reopen her school, she finds comfort in preserving Boutin's stories through an oral history project and replanting marsh grasses to stop coastal erosion. From Nonnie's storytelling to the sight of sunset over the marsh, the vivid first-person narrative helps readers understand why Jillian is determined to stay in Boutin and how she finds hope for a future when the town may be gone. While the importance of taking action to limit the effects of climate change is an element of the book, more central is the power of families, communities, and stories to bring people together and provide support. An involving, heartening novel of growth and change.

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Starred review from August 1, 2022
Jillian Robichaux is determined to fight back when her beloved home's threatened by coastal erosion. Tiny Boutin, Louisiana--with houses built on tall stilts--has survived devastating hurricanes, but it's unusually heavy rain that causes a massive flood and blows her estranged father back into her life. After rescuing an elderly woman's old photographs from her flooding house, 13-year-old Jillian doesn't recognize some places in the pictures, despite her hometown's being a keystone of her identity. Investigating further, she learns how much of her town has ended up underwater over the past half-century. Worse, the state doesn't want to repair the damaged bridges or schools (instead shuttling kids to a larger town's schools), devastating Boutin's chances for recovery. Stubborn Jillian teams up with her brainy cousin and an artistic activist friend from her new school for a three-pronged approach to the disaster: a video and photographic oral history project to preserve locals' memories, a petition to save the school, and service helping ecological groups plant marsh grass to combat coastal erosion. The projects' trajectories manage to balance optimism, empowerment, and realistic ideas of what success looks like--the last causing emotional struggles for Jillian. Most characters are Cajun; there are two prominent Black characters, and southern Louisiana's Vietnamese community is acknowledged. Fictional Boutin's dilemmas are inspired by real climate change events. Come for gumbo and jambalaya; stay for the phenomenal hero with a powerful growth story. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-13)

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January 1, 2023
Less extreme than the dramatic hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters occurring around the globe, the weather crisis affecting this book's fictional place reveals a slower dismantling of land and its inhabitants. Jillian Robichaux lives in the Cajun community of Boutin in the wetlands of Louisiana. Gradually, coastal erosion is destroying the town: the bridge that connects Boutin to the mainland is unsafe; the school cannot be repaired; and businesses, homes, and even a cemetery are now underwater. The future is clear: families must leave. For Jillian, the inevitable exodus feels like an abandonment of her entire culture and her definition of who she is. Guillory's well-crafted setting includes a cuisine of jambalaya, gumbo, and turtle sauce piquant; a sprinkling of French phrases; and Cajun names. The biggest loss, and the one developed most artfully, is the sense of community created in Boutin over generations. The townspeople nurture that history through their stories, which Jillian and her friends capture in an ambitious oral history project that preserves those memories. Jillian's grief, and her trepidation about facing a now unmoored future, ring true and give the novel its heart, while the issues of preserving one's environment and heritage, although strong, never overtake the narrative but offer readers much to ponder.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)