Laura Roach Dragon

Laura Roach Dragon brings professional experience with children and families to fiction about disruption, resilience, and belonging. Hurricane Boy follows Hollis Williams after Hurricane Katrina separates him from his family and changes the New Orleans world he knows. Dragon has explained that her work as a psychotherapist informed her attention to children's responses after the storm, while the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators recognized the novel with a 2015 Crystal Kite Award. Pelican Publishing issued the book as a middle-grade historical novel, grounding a large historical disaster in one child's immediate fears and decisions. Dragon's New Orleans connection gives the setting particular weight, but the novel remains focused on Hollis rather than becoming a general chronicle of Katrina. Hurricane Boy by Laura Roach Dragon functions as middle-grade historical fiction about separation, community help, and a young character learning how to move through uncertainty without losing hope.