Open Books Challenge 2026: About or Set During a Natural Disaster

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "About or set during a natural disaster."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
Rochester Public Library RPL Staff
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Open Books Challenge 2026: About or Set During a Natural Disaster

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "About or set during a natural disaster."

Happy Reading!

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Double Agent
Archer, Gretchen
Ebook
The year of the flood : a novel
Atwood, Margaret
Audiobook
The long-awaited new novel from Margaret Atwood. The Year of the Flood is a dystopic masterpiece and a testament to her visionary power. The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly...
When the sky glows
Beckerman, Nell Cross
Paper Book
Uncover the science behind the beautiful and vast array of natural events that make the sky glow all over the world in this enlightening nonfiction picture book. Sunrises and lightning storms, rainbows and volcanoes, meteors and eclipses--these beautiful, awe-inspiring events...
I am a tornado
Beckmeyer, Drew
Paper Book
An emotionally unaware tornado carves a path of destruction until it picks up a very empathetic cow in this quirky and sweet picture book about compassion and navigating negative emotions. Tornado is on a rampage. It tosses cars and knocks over barns. Tornado is also angry, only...
Lily and the great quake : a San Francisco earthquake survival story
Bybee, Veeda
Paper Book
Lily is a twelve-year-old Chinese American girl living in San Francisco's Chinatown when an earthquake destroys her home and sets her neighborhood on fire. Separated from her parents, Lily must help her younger brother and neighbor escape San Francisco. As the city burns, Lily struggles to keep her...
All the water in the world : a novel
Caffall, Eiren
Paper Book
In the tradition of Station Eleven, a literary thriller set partly on the roof of New York's Museum of Natural History in a flooded future. "Gripping...tense, de­­­lightful and rich with resonance." --Scientific American "Captivating...The...
What storm, what thunder
Chancy, Myriam J. A.
Paper Book
American Book Award Winner Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist A NPR, Boston Globe, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, and Library Journal Best Book of the Year "Stunning." --Margaret Atwood At the end of a...
The last train to Key West
Cleeton, Chanel
Paper Book
Instant New York Times bestseller One of Bustle's Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2020 "The perfect riveting summer read!"-BookBub In 1935 three women are forever changed when one of the most powerful hurricanes in history barrels...
Speak to me of home : a novel
Cummins, Jeanine
Paper Book
What does it mean to call a place home? From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jeanine Cummins comes a deeply felt multigenerational family story On her wedding day in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1968, Rafaela Acuña y Daubón has mild misgivings, but...
When the sky fell : Hurricane Maria and the United States in Puerto Rico
Deibert, Michael
Paper Book
A searing investigation of the factors that devastated Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, from acclaimed investigative reporter Michael Deibert. When Hurricane Maria roared across Puerto Rico in September 2017, it devastated the island. It was an unprecedented natural...
Naked came the Florida man
Dorsey, Tim
Paper Book
"Can it still be hurricane season? Must be, because here come Serge A. Storms and his perpetually stoned bro, Coleman, in Tim Dorsey's gonzo crime caper." -The New York Times Book Review The "compulsively irreverent and shockingly funny" (Boston Globe) Tim Dorsey returns...
Notorious sorcerer
Evans, Davinia
Paper Book
"Vibrant, explosive, deliciously dangerous, and impossibly fun." --Tasha Suri "A brilliant alchemical recipe!" --Olivia Atwater "I loved getting lost in this dazzling debut." --Shannon Chakraborty
Floodgates
Evans, Mary Anna.
Ebook
2011 - Mississippi Author Award Winner "Evans has written a fascinating tale linking the history of New Orleans' levee system to the present and weaving into the story aspects of the city's widely diverse cultures." -- Booklist STARRED review Centuries of...
Random sh*t flying through the air
Ford, Jackson
Paper Book
"The stakes couldn't be higher ... The suspense, the danger, and the rocket-fueled pace are all turned up to 11."―Kirkus   "Furious, frenetic, fun, and "f**k you" -- Robert Brockway on The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind ...
Crooked hallelujah
Ford, Kelli Jo
Paper Book
"A book that you want to share with everyone you know and one that you are desperate to keep in your own possession. A masterful debut and a new and thrilling voice for readers across the globe." --Sarah Jessica Parker, on Instagram It's 1974 in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and fifteen...
Camino winds
Grisham, John
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "The perfect crime scene . . . in the type of wild but smart caper that Grisham's readers love."--Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing     Just as Bruce Cable's Bay Books is preparing for the return of...
Lights, camera, bones
Haines, Carolyn
Paper Book
The latest novel in the series that Kirkus Reviews characterizes as "Stephanie Plum meets the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" featuring sassy Southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney. Delaney Detective Agency gets a taste of the spotlight when they are called to a case...
A puppy called Disaster
Hapkins, Rose.
Paper Book
A tornado strikes town!  And Janey worries about her friends, her neighbors, and the Third Street Pet Shelter.  The shelter is intact, but overflowing with animals separated from their owners and in desperate need of some help!  Time for the Pet Rescue Club to pitch in!  ...
The Amish wedding promise
Hilton, Laura V.
Paper Book
The displacements
Holsinger, Bruce W.
Paper Book
"Hypnotic." - New York Times "Cinematic." - USA Today "I gripped the covers of this book as though it might be blown from my hands. . .powerful." - Ron Charles, The Washington Post "A full-throttle page turner."- Miranda Cowley Heller, #1...
The hurricane girls
Holt, Kimberly Willis
Paper Book
A coming-of-age middle grade novel about three best friends born in the wake of Hurricane Katrina who must confront storms of their own 12 years later, from a National Book Award-winning author. ★ "Holt takes time developing these characters,...
House of bone and rain : a barrio noir
Iglesias, Gabino
Paper Book
In this "stunningly visceral" (New York Times Book Review) novel, a group of young men seek vengeance after one of their mothers is murdered in a Puerto Rican slum; STAND BY ME with a haunted, obsidian-dark heart.    A Barnes & Noble Best Horror Book...
What was Hurricane Katrina?
Koontz, Robin Michal.
Paper Book
On August 25th, 2005, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in history hit the Gulf of Mexico. High winds and rain pummeled coastal communities, including the City of New Orleans, which was left under 15 feet of water in some areas after the levees burst. Track this powerful storm...
The living
de la Pe?, Matt.
Paper Book
Newbery Award-winning author Matt de la Pe#65533;a's The Living is "a rare thing: a plot-driven YA with characters worthy of a John Green novel." [Entertainment Weekly, A-] Shy took the summer job to make some money. In a few months on a luxury cruise liner,...
Outrun the moon
Lee, Stacey
Paper Book
From the author of the critically acclaimed Under a Painted Sky, an unforgettable story of determination set against a backdrop of devastating tragedy. Perfect for fans of Code Name Verity. Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Young Adult Winner of...
Side chick nation
De León, Aya (Novelist)
Paper Book
Winner of the Internation Latino Book Award A Justice Hustlers Novel She's beautiful, unpredictable-and on the run from dangerous men. But this ex-side chick is ready to risk everything to help others in trouble . . . Fed up...
Beach haven
Lowe, T. I.
Paper Book
From the bestselling author ofLulu's CaféFree-spirited Opal Gilbert seems to have everything she needs to keep living a happy life in Sunset Cove as she refurbishes vintage furniture to sell at her funky ocean-side boutique, Bless This Mess. Until Lincoln Cole, a new-to-town ex...
Hurricane season
Melchor, Fernanda
Paper Book
The Witch is dead. And the discovery of her corpse--by a group of children playing near the irrigation canals--propels the whole village into an investigation of how and why this murder occurred. Rumors and suspicions spread. As the novel unfolds in a dazzling linguistic torrent, with each...
Ashfall
Mullin, Mike.
Paper Book
Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our...
Mountains of fire : the menace, meaning, and magic of volcanoes
Oppenheimer, Clive
Paper Book
Meeting with volcanoes around the world, a volcanologist interprets their messages for humankind.   In Mountains of Fire, Clive Oppenheimer invites readers to stand with him in the shadow of an active volcano. Whether he is scaling majestic summits,...
A better man
Penny, Louise
Paper Book
A #1 New York Times Bestselling AuthorA Chief Inspector Gamache NovelChief Inspector Armand Gamache is back as head of the homicide department, just as flood waters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil, a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter....
Disappearing Earth
Phillips, Julia
Paper Book
One of The New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year National Book Award Finalist Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize Finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions...
The Academy
Poyer, David
Paper Book
With high ethical stakes and a suspenseful past-and-present narrative, The Academy is David Poyer's capstone novel in the Dan Lenson series. In his final tour of duty after a remarkable career at sea, Dan Lenson is appointed Superintendent of the US Naval Academy at...
The Phoenix crown : a novel
Quinn, Kate
Paper Book
From bestselling authors Janie Chang and Kate Quinn, a thrilling and unforgettable narrative about the intertwined lives of two wronged women, spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles. San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly...
Tornado rescue
Rajan, Rekha S.
Paper Book
The Disaster Squad is ready to save the day in this action-packed early chapter book series perfect for fans of the Magic Tree House series, or for kids who aren't quite ready to read I Survived! Pick a book. Grow a Reader! This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line,...
A rainbow above us
Sala, Sharon
Ebook
No one does it like you
Shepard, Katie
Paper Book
College sweethearts reunite to restore more than just an old inn in this new romance by Katie Shepard, author of Sweeten the Deal. When's the best time to tell your ex that you want them back? Probably not in the middle of a Category 3 hurricane. But when...
Tall water
Sindu, SJ
From Stonewall Honor-winning writer SJ Sindu, author of Shakti, and celebrated illustrator Dion MBD comes a powerful coming-of-age teen graphic novel that follows one girl's journey to Sri Lanka to reconnect with her long-lost mother during the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004....
Rushing waters
Steel, Danielle
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Danielle Steel fearlessly tackles a catastrophe and its aftermath with characters who are joined together by accident, then share their vulnerabilities, regrets, losses, and hopes.   Hurricane Ophelia is bearing down on New York City. And...
My volcano
Stintzi, John Elizabeth
Paper Book
My Volcano is a kaleidoscopic portrait of a menagerie of characters, as they each undergo personal eruptions, while the Earth itself is constantly shifting. Parable, myth, science-fiction, eco-horror, My Volcano is a radical work of literary art, emerging as a subversive,...
Dead in the water
Swanson, Denise
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Denise Swanson returns to the beloved town of Scumble River and its quirky townsfolk with Dead in the Water. First in a newly revamped cozy mystery series, Dead in the Water is a gripping mystery that won't let you go until you've turned the last page. ...
Half broke horses : a true-life novel
Walls, Jeannette.
Paper Book
Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly). Now she brings us the story of her grandmother -- told in a voice so authentic and compelling that the book is destined to become an instant classic. "Those old cows...
One deadly eye
White, Randy Wayne
Paper Book
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* From New York Times bestselling author Randy Wayne White, after the deadliest hurricane to hit Florida's Gulf Coast in a century, Doc Ford must stop a gang of thieves--and worse--during the twelve hours of chaos that follow the passing...
Krakatoa : the day the world exploded, August 27, 1883
Winchester, Simon.
Paper Book
On August 27, 1883, the volcano-island of Krakatoa erupted with such force that it was completely destroyed. The explosion could be heard from thousands of miles away, and triggered an immense tsunami that killed nearly 40,000 people. And that was just the beginning. In this New York Times...
The lost book of Adana Moreau : a novel
Zapata, Michael
Paper Book
*Winner of the inaugural DAG Prize for Literature* *Winner of the Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction* *A Heartland Booksellers Award Nominee* *An NPR Best Book of the Year* *A BookPage Best Book of the Year* *A Library Journal...
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