Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere

By: Julie T. Lamana / Narrated By: Robin Miles

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

For middle-grade fiction, Armani’s story is pretty hard-hitting... Sooo good!

I believe I already spouted off about just how much I loved this book when I was kinda sorta panning Ninth Ward earlier in this storm season. I felt the character there, a 12-year old, was rather thinly-fleshed out, and she seemed MUCH younger than her years.

Here, in Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere, we have Armani, a young girl whose 10th birthday is coming up, so I was totally okay with her acting childish… she IS a child!

Her birthday is what starts all the trouble, at least that’s how she’ll remember it for the rest of her life. When that “stupid storm” Katrina starts heading toward New Orleans and there are people talking about evacuating, she’s pretty ticked off: Her birthday is coming up, and she’s supposed to be having a party, dang it all! So she doesn’t let her folks know that neighbors are leaving town, and she pouts mightily when her folks get worried and limit her birthday party to family, no friends.

There are MANY instances of Armani behaving like a child: foot-stomping, pouting, saying mean things, and turning away when a gentle hand is offered. But I didn't mind it because that’s what this story is: A very young girl who’s forced to grow up and grow up quickly.

When the levees break and the flood hits, tragedy strikes the family, and THAT’S where I had the problem: Armani’s mother is so overwhelmed that she basically abandons her younger children to try to find help for one of the young twins who needs medical attention. She leaves Armani (10 YEARS OLD!!!) to care for them, setting all that responsibility on the little girl’s shoulders. It drove me nuts the first couple of times I listened to the book, but during this listen, I totally got that Mom was numb with grief, paralyzed by fear, doing the best she could in a terrible situation where there were few, if any, options.

I credit the excellent narration of Robin Miles for my softening view of Mom because Miles, while using a vivid and emotional voice for Armani, uses flat and fearful tones for Mom—the woman is terrified; the woman is grief-stricken; the woman feels she has nothing else she can do and is afraid of losing even more. So okay, I finally GOT Mom and what she was going through. Add to that Miles’s voices for all the other characters, particularly Armani as she goes from willful, foot-stomping child all the way to exhausted and ultra-responsible young girl, and my hat was off for Ms. Miles. She’s done sooo many other audiobooks, and she’s one of my favorite narrators.

Listen to this audiobook if you want well fleshed-out characters (And such a variety of them too!), many scenes of Katrina’s aftermath as seen through a 10-year old’s eyes (Rooftops, the Superdome, evacuation to Houston, etc.), and very, very emotionally evocative writing. Plus wonderful, wonderful narration, and you’ll be able to hear for yourself why this audiobook is a favorite of mine.

Ninth Ward didn’t cut it for me, but Armani’s story certainly did.

Friendship and love: THOSE are the things Armani’s all about!