HOLYOKE – When hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico in 2017, much of the country was destroyed and life as the people knew it disappeared. The coquis vanished too, and with them the nighttime serenade of these beloved tree frogs.

This is where Lesléa Newman’s latest children’s book picks up. In “Alicia and the Hurricane”, a young girl – Alicia – stands amidst the rubble of her home and life, saddened by the silence the coquis have left behind.

Alicia spends two nights in a shelter before moving back home with her family. Their house is damaged, but not devastated and they can live there while they rebuild.

While the family and nation struggle to move forward, they ultimately prevail. Even the coquis return, fulfilling the hope Alicia had that they would.

“When Alicia hears the coquis singing again after a great silence, it fills her heart,” said the Holyoke children’s author.

Alicia and the Hurricane is literally, and metaphorically a tale about surviving storms – everything from hurricanes and blizzards to losing a parent or pet. Anything that’s terrible.

“At the end of the book you see Alicia and her family and the people of her neighborhood come together to help each other out. The message of the book is when we all come together, there is strength. We can give each other hope and courage and help each other survive. We can make the world a better place,” Newman told Reminder Publishing.

Newman is a poet and children’s author who is fond of writing for her young audience.

“A book can really change a child’s life in a way that is different from the way books impact adults. When a child sees themselves in a book, it’s so validating and touches them to the core. When a child sees another child in a book that is not like them, it opens their world and they can learn a lot about the variety that exists in the world we live in,” said Newman.

“Alicia and the Hurricane” is a bilingual book, written in English and Spanish. It is a salute to Newman’s largely Puerto Rican community and her Puerto Rican spouse.

Bringing the book to life visually is the art of Elizabeth Erazo Baez – “Her illustrations are so very beautiful,” Newman said.

In the book, Alicia’s parents along with other adults help her cope with loss. “The job of the adults is to help children feel safe in the world and to protect them, whether that’s a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or teacher. That is what happens in the book. Adults reassure the child,” said Newman.

Newman said she doesn’t actively search for story ideas – they simply come to her.

“I wait for a story to come along and tap me on the shoulder. If I have some kind of deep response to it, I know it’s a story that needs to be told,” she said.

Newman may write primarily for children, but she always has adults in mind.

“The best children’s books have something in them for adults. What’s important is to think about how much we love the natural world and how we want to take care of it and take care of all its inhabitants, including each other,” said Newman
At the end of the story when the coquis return, Alicia’s faith is reaffirmed, and she sleeps to the familiar sounds of the coqui.

“That is a symbol that things will return and be rebuilt – that our lives will go on,” said Newman.

“Alicia and the Hurricane” is now available in bookstores online and across the country.