Zeitoun+by+Rahman+K.

 The book starts out with a history of the main characters. The man had lived in Syria when he was younger and now is married to a girl and they live in New Orleans. His name is Zeitoun and her name is Kathy. They have 3 daughters and they run a small painting business. They are used to storms where they live and especially during the month of August. As Kathy makes lunch for her daughter’s, she listens to the radio about the storm that is coming that day which they are calling Katrina.   Zeitoun has a family history with storms. His dad was a fisherman in Syria when they hit a bad storm. He climbed the mast to try and get it untangled and he plunged into the ocean. His crew threw him a few planks of wood and because it was dark outside they could not see him. Two days later he showed up and no one could believe he was alive.  Throughout the day there were updates on Katrina which was making its way towards them from Key West, Florida. It had been a Category 1 in the morning and by 3:00 in the afternoon it had been upgraded to a Category 3. Kathy kept calling Zeitoun because she wanted to evacuate but he kept putting her off. By the next morning, Katrina was listed as a Category 5 hurricane and headed directly for New Orleans. Kathy and the kids pack up and go to her brothers house away from the storm and Zeitoun decides to stay home and guard the house. He is glad that he had bought a canoe and a garage sale.  __**Items to Research**__
 * Journal 1:**
 *  Syria
 *  New Orleans
 *  Hurricane Katrina
 *  The Religion of Islam
 *  How levees work

**Journal 2:**

The news about the hurricane does not get any better and it is headed for New Orleans. Kathy has left with the four kids and really would like Zeitoun to come with, but he stays back to watch the house and all of their things. Zeitoun moves anything electronic up to the second floor of the house and also any things that are important like pictures. He goes to bed upstairs and is dying of heat because there is no power and that means no a   ir conditioning. When he wakes up in the morning, he can see the sky from the bed and sees that it is really cloudy and hears something strange. He gets up and looks out, and sees that his house is surrounded by almost nine feet of water.

He thinks back to how his wife made fun of him for buying a canoe at a garage sale and how lucky he is that he has it. He gets it out and paddles around the house and neighborhood. Just about everyone in town has left and he thinks it is like the end of the world. He can hear dogs barking and paddles to the houses bringing them water and things to eat. As he paddles he sees a dead body floating and saves a lady that was stuck in her house. He has his cell phone and calls Kathy at noon like he had promised. She was really upset that he had stayed because the news reports were really bad. The levees in town had broken and the water just kept getting higher. All of the water made Zeitoun think about his brother Muhammod and how he had to sneak around to take swim lessons because his father did not allow it. His brother ended up winning many races and Zeitoun wished he would have taken lessons with him. He noticed that the water is now getting dirty and cloudy as he paddles around and wonders how many living things have died because of the disaster. Kathy was heading towards Phoenix where a relative lived, but when she meets up with her mom she tells her to head towards Houston where shelters were being put up. She also tells her to take off her hijab because her husband isn’t with her and she doesn’t have to wear it. Kathy gets mad about that because her mother doesn’t understand the meaning of it. This had to be hard for all of the people that lived through the hurricane because they had to see everything they owned float away and get ruined. I can see why Zeitoun stayed with the house to try and save thing but I don’t think I would have. I think staying with his family would have been better because they could have gone through the disaster together, or they could have endured the wait at a relative’s together. Most people would want to know what it is like living through a disaster and would want to read this book. The only thing that is confusing is when Zeitoun starts thinking back to his life when he was a kid.

__**Items To Research**__
 *  Levees
 *  Hijab
 *  Qur’an
 *  Houston Shelters
 *  Katrina Damages

**Journal 3:**

 On September 5 th, Zeitoun was on the phone with Nassar and told him he had to go to answer a knock on his door. When he opened it he was met by men that had guns. He did not call his wife that night and everyone became really nervous about what might have happened to him. Even his brothers and sisters became concerned and they lived in Saudi Arabia. In the meantime, the death rates were rising as the water was really high and it was hard for rescuers to find people that were stranded. There were pictures out with aerial views that showed how houses were under feet of water and President Bush said the disaster could be worse than 9/11. All of this left Kathy feeling helpless but she knew she had to act normal for her kids. They began school in September because she wanted their lives to get back to normal and thought she should hide her fear from them. What had happened was that the city turned to the National Guard to get order in the streets and they were suspicious of Zeitoun and his friends and thought that they could be Al Queda members. Zeitoun knew he was in trouble because there were no courts or judges or even regular police left in the area. He was now a prisoner and when he asked if he could make a phone call they said no.

__** Items to Research **__
 * National Guard
 * Deaths Caused by Katrina
 * Racism against Muslims Since 9/11
 * Rebuilding New Orleans

**Journal 4:**

As I said in the last journal Zeitoun and his friend Nassar are put in jail. <span style="display: inline !important; font-size: 120%;"> What happens is that they are Muslims and because of 9/11 fears in America, they become under suspicion of criminal activity during Hurricane Katrina as do many others. They are brought first to the bus station in New Orleans where metal cages have been put up to house criminals. Zeitoun was placed in jail 9 days after the storm and he thought that it had to take them at least a week to construct the jail or cage. He said it was almost like the National Guard and police were just waiting for a chance to arrest people they thought might be terrorists.

This last part of the book deals with all of the bad things that ignorant people in authority did to Zeitoun and all of the wrong things that took place in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina. The author wrote the book as he wanted people to be shocked and disbelieving that something like this could still happen in America today. Zeitoun makes it out of jail and his wife and kids come home where they began rebuilding their house. At the end, Zeitoun says that he did not let his jail time shake his faith in God or love for America. He would help rebuild New Orleans because it is his home.

**IDEAS:**
 * How many people were put in jail after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans?
 * What is the Innocence Project of New Orleans?
 * The Zeitoun Foundation - purpose
 * The Green Project – purpose
 * Is New Orleans rebuilt?


 * Credible Sources: **

**The Religion of Islam** <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; font-size: 120%; padding-right: 10px;">[]

**Hurricane Katrina** []

**Racism againts Muslims since 9/11** []

**Is New Orleans rebuilt?** []

**How Levees Work** []

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