How Trauma Inspired an Author to Prepare Kids for Hurricane Season

Preparing for storm season was routine for Sara Echenique and her family growing up in Puerto Rico. But after September 2017, she never thought about hurricanes the same way again.

It was the year that Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the island with devastating force, reaching Category 5 and Category 4 strength, respectively.

Irma damaged thousands of buildings and knocked out power to more than a million residents. Just two weeks later, as the island was still rebuilding, Maria made landfall, killing at least 3,000 people and knocking out the power grid. Rebuilding efforts were long and complicated.

“I visited Puerto Rico in December… and while I was there I was really struck by the sea of ​​blue tarp roofs that we saw literally everywhere,” Echenique said.

Soon after, Echenique read a story about a little child who had been unable to speak since the hurricanes.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about that kid,” Echenique said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about them and what they had gone through, especially because they were about the same age as my kids.”

This is how the idea for a children’s book, Our Roof is Blue, was born. The book tells the story of two young Puerto Rican siblings on the island during and after a hurricane. The brother, Antonio, stops speaking after the natural disaster and his sister is determined to help him find his voice again.

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“I felt I needed to get it out to overcome the trauma that this child was going through, and that so many other children on the island were going through at the same time,” Echenique said.

As the characters in the book prepare to face a hurricane, readers can learn about the process of putting up protections on homes and stocking up on water, food, batteries, flashlights and toilet paper.

Her book has now been selected as a “Florida Youth Pick” for recognition at the Library of Congress’ 2024 National Book Festival, to be held in Washington, DC, on August 24.

“I am incredibly honored and humbled to have a part of Puerto Rico’s history and also Florida’s history that is something so representative of this wonderful state that we call home,” Echenique said.

Our roof is blue is also available in Spanish. Echenique said that when her publisher suggested the idea, she couldn’t resist.

“Language is really one of the many keys to culture,” Echenique said. “It’s in the music we dance to, it’s in the stories we pass down from generation to generation, and it can really create an instant connection with others.”

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She added that she wanted her three children to feel connected to their inherited cultures – Puerto Rican from Echenique and Cuban and Slovak from her husband.

“I think our children deserve to have access to the same level of rich literature that everyone else has,” she said.

Echenique also hopes Our roof is blue will allow children to know that they can help reduce the effects of climate change and, therefore, perhaps mitigate the impact of powerful storms.

Tips at the end of the book include: planting vegetables, fruits, flowers, and trees; recycling and using less energy; showing you care by standing up for the environment; and creating innovative solutions to reduce our carbon footprint and combat the effects of climate change.

“I think, especially with an issue like climate change, it’s very easy, even for adults, to feel helpless and passive and think they can’t do anything,” Echenique said. “I really wanted readers to see that they have agency … and give them that sense of control over something that often feels out of control.”

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