MAXY SOBREVIVE EL HURACÁN / MAXY SURVIVES THE HURRICANE

A canine perspective on weathering a hurricane.

Maxy is a happy dog who lives in Puerto Rico with Clarita, her parents, and her abuelos. His idyllic life of playing catch under the flamboyant tree and taking naps with his toy bat is threatened one day in September, when Clarita and her family begin preparing their house and laying in supplies for Hurricane María. As the storm makes landfall, Maxy shakes with fear, but Clarita is there to comfort her puppy. When the rain stops, the world has changed for the dog, his family, and their neighbors: The power is out for days, the streets are flooded, many homes are destroyed, and trees have been torn down—including Maxy and Clarita’s favorite. Many days later the power is restored, and the refrigerators and fans start working again. Maxy is relieved! Will this ever happen again? When the rain starts falling again, Maxy starts to tremble, and his owner, quick to comfort him, shows Maxy all the reasons why rain is a good thing. Barinova’s illustrations endear the puppy’s plight to readers. But Clarita also survives the hurricane. And although it’s important to remember pets during natural disasters, Chansky and Acevedo’s bilingual story seems like a missed opportunity to center a human child of color’s experience and their survival and recovery—tales that are badly needed.

There are so many human stories to tell of Hurricane María that this dog’s version feels slight.