In this historical adventure for middle grade readers, a dog travels through time and rescues a family in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Ranger, the time-traveling golden retriever with search-and-rescue training, arrives in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approaches and residents start to evacuate the city. Ranger meets Clare Porter, who is searching for her grandmother. Once Ranger helps Clare find Nana, he takes shelter with them at their home in the Lower Ninth Ward, and they wait for Clare’s father to return from the gas station. But there’s no sign of him as hours pass and the weather gets worse. The wind picks up and rain pours down. And when the levees break, floodwaters dangerously rise, and Clare and Nana are separated. Can Ranger help Clare navigate the flooded streets to safety and back to her family? Praise for the first book in the Ranger in Time series: “This excellent story contains historical details, full-page illustrations, and enough action to keep even reluctant readers engaged.” —School Library Journal “The third-person narration expertly balances Ranger’s thoughts between the appropriately doglike (squirrels! bacon!) and the heroic (Ranger’s drive to find and protect).” —Kirkus Reviews “McMorris’s richly rendered illustrations heighten the plot’s many moments of danger and drama, and Messner incorporates a wealth of historical details into her rousing adventure story.” —Publishers Weekly

Patience is a South African penguin. She is small at roughly 6 pounds and approximately 20 inches tall; but at 24 years old, she is the "penguin in charge" of the penguin exhibit at New Orleans's Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hits, devastating the city and surrounding areas with its catastrophic winds and flooding. The aquarium is severely damaged. With no electricity or relief in sight, the temperature in the aquarium reaches dangerously high degrees, putting the penguins in peril. Patience, and the 18 other penguins, along with some of the other zoo animals, must leave their home and their favorite human, Tom, the penguin keeper. Tom drives his penguins to Baton Rouge where an airplane transfers them to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Here the penguins will recuperate and live until they can return home to New Orleans. After nine long months away from Tom and their home, the aquarium is finally restored. And Patience, who has been patient, and her penguins return to New Orleans to a cheering homecoming.

At 7 a.m. on August 29, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Louisiana coast between Grand Isle and the mouth of the Mississippi River as a strong Category 4 hurricane. The devastation she would bring to the Gulf Coast was widespread and unimaginable. Though warnings had been issued for days and evacuations initiated, thousands stood in the path of one of the strongest storms in the history of America. Left with no power, no drinking water, dwindling food supplies, and steadily rising waters from major levee breaches, survivors also faced life-threatening looting and widespread fires. Efforts to limit the flooding were initially unsuccessful and refugees from the hurricane fought for their very survival on the streets of New Orleans and throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. While tragedy and desperation brought out the worst in some, it also inspired courage and hope in others, giving them the will to triumph against incalculable odds.

One of the few inspirational stories that came out of Hurricane Katrina was the rescue of Tulane University Hospital and Clinic. During the days immediately following the New Orleans flood, Nashville-based hospital company HCA masterminded and financed the rescue of every Tulane patient, staffer and family member a total of 1,200 people in all. This is the inside story of how the company did it; what the administration knew and didnt know; how doctors and nurses cared for patients under difficult conditions; how dozens of helicopters executed the rescue safely. This book also tells the story of how Tulanes staff and administration helped rescue around 50 patients from other New Orleans hospitals, in spite of having almost no communication with those hospitals along the way.

"The objective of this report is to identify and establish a roadmap on how to do that, and lay the groundwork for transforming how this Nation- from every level of government to the private sector to individual citizens and communities - pursues a real and lasting vision of preparedness. To get there will require significant change to the status quo, to include adjustments to policy, structure, and mindset"--P. 2.

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Hurricane Katrina, in Aug. 2005, was the costliest hurricane as well as one of the five deadliest storms in U.S. history. It caused extensive destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas. Some 22,000 Active-Duty Army personnel assisted with relief-and-recovery operations in Mississippi and Louisiana. At the same time, all 50 states sent approx. 50,000 National Guard personnel to deal with the storm¿s aftermath. Because the media coverage of this disaster tended toward the sensational more than the analytical, many important stories remain to be told in a dispassionate manner. This study offers a dispassionate analysis of the Army¿s response to the natural disaster by providing a detailed account of the operations in Louisiana and Mississippi.

DVD documents the rescue and relief efforts of the Best Friends Animal Society (17 mins.).