A beautiful cover leads you into an interesting book that will appeal to a range of children and families.

This was a quick book to read trough. I liked the characters, and the storyline was interesting. However, the story did not stick with me. I do recommend this book though.

A story of hardship and overcoming tough life situations as viewed from the eyes of an 8 year old. This story has a very real feel to it almost in the style of a memoir- although the ending is a little over the top.

This book is a real page turner. The reader cannot help but want to find out what is going to happen next. Autumn, the protagonist, is faced with hardship after hardship, all of which are traumatic, yet she remains triumphant, mainly due to the strength of her resilient and undaunted mother. The book ends in a somewhat unrealistic way, so much so that I asked myself it this book was actually a true story and that the ending was real. However, I don't believe that this is the case. I believe that the author wanted to give the family a happy ending. If this is indeed the case, this is not the most realistic book for children of this age to read, as most of them will not have even half of the happy ending that was portrayed in the story.

Through the Storm is a powerful story of three strong women, a mother and her two young daughters. Despite their hardships dealing with food insecurity, an abusive father, and basically losing it all, Autumn and her family have hope and determination on their side. Readers will be rooting for the three women throughout the book, and who knows, maybe some of their dreams will come true.

Autumn Is eight years old and is leading a happy normal life in the Bronx of New York, But life has a way of changing and boy does her’s.

Autumn’s family doesn't have a lot of money, so mama struggles to pay the bills and have food on the table. There might be a little more money at the end of the month if her her Daddy wouldn't drink so much. Even so, Autumn thinks she's got it pretty darn good.

She has her big sister Dakota to play (and fight with!), her best friend Ziah to always be there for her, her Grandma and Granddaddy to spoil her, and the world's greatest Mama to raise her right, Autumn figures she can get through just about anything.

Then just about everything In her life begins to go wrong.

Autum will need everything she can muster to survive the darts the world is rapidly throwing at her? Life may not be fair but that doesn't mean she's going to give up.

Dakota, Autumn and their hard working and loving mama struggle through every adversity you might imagine, from child abuse to having your home set on fire while you were sleeping inside.

I flew through the book all the while wishing I could help this sweet family. While the ending is cottonballs and butterflies it is in no way realistic. Yet the ending made me feel good for the Thomas’ family... minus Varnan deadbeat father of course.

Life is full of storms for Autumn and her family. Their family Features a father with anger and drug issues, a mother desperately trying to hold it all together, and two little girls doing the best they can to survive. I liked the short chapters and the point of view of a child. Seeing things through Autumn’s eyes will help young readers digest all of the storms.

Everything seems to be going wrong for Autumn and her mother and sister - her father is abusive, her beloved great-grandparents can no longer care for themselves and move away to live with her aunt, her best friend is moving away. Things seem to look up when her father is finally arrested for abuse and sentenced to 3 years in jail, but somehow he is still around, following them, robbing their house, which is then burned down. Then, her mother gets sick. It seems as if things just keep getting worse.

This story deals with the difficulties many families face, and shows how hard it is to get out of an abusive situation and to get out of poverty. Autumn is a very sympathetic character, and my heart broke for what she and her mother went through. While the story was relevant and touching, the storytelling and writing left something to be desired. The chapters felt short and choppy, as if they hadn't been quite fully fleshed out, and did not flow from one to the next. Also, the ending was completely unrealistic, and I think does a great disservice to all the families in similar circumstances and the the readers who need to learn about it to develop empathy. It would have been much better to have a more realistic ending, rather than having Oprah sweep in and give them a house and money like a fairy godmother.

This book has a good premise, but feels like an unfinished draft, and should have bee sent back for more editing and rewriting.

[I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]