The Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Lanesha is twelve years old and able to see and communicate with ghosts. She lives in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, LA with Mama Ya-Ya who has the ability to predict the future. Mama Ya-Ya senses the hurricaine coming and when the city orders a mandatory evactuation of the city Mama Ya-Ya and Lanesha decide to ride it out because they don't have a car or much money. They prepare for Katrina and it's due to Mama Ya-Ya's warnings and Lanseha's determination to survive that drives the story. Lanesha was so beautifully written, she had no friends because of Mama Ya-Ya's abilities as well as her own. Her best friend was Mama Ya-Ya and she loved math. Even though we all know the outcome of Hurricaine Katrina, Rhodes did a wonderful job of making the apprehension and survivl strategies of the ordeal real, so it didn't come off as a predictable Katrina story.