Book Review of The Thunderstorm Party
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The Children’s Book Review
The Thunderstorm Party
Created and illustrated by Hallie Olson
Ages 6-12 | 32 Pages
Publisher: Mission Point Press and Water Visions Media | ISBN-13: 9781950659401
What to Expect: storms, facing and overcoming fears, and uncertainty.
The Thunderstorm Party is a delightful narrative both penned and illustrated by the late Hallie Olson, who was just 13 years old at the time. The tale unfolds with young Heidi observing ominous clouds gathering in the sky, sparking her anxiety about an impending storm. Despite her mother’s attempts to divert her attention, Heidi finds herself overwhelmed by fear at the thunder and lightning outside her window. It’s not until Heidi’s mother shares a comforting story about storms that Heidi begins to find solace.
“Thunderstorms are like God’s parties,” her mother tells her. “The lightning is the flashing strobe light, and the thunder is all the people up in heaven dancing on the clouds.” These words provide Heidi with the courage she needs to confront her fears, enabling her to navigate the rest of her day without further distress.
The Thunderstorm Party will resonate with young readers who grapple with storm-related anxieties. The childlike illustrations, drawn by Hallie herself, allow younger audiences to connect with Heidi’s emotions as she embarks on her journey toward overcoming her fear of storms. Older readers and adults will appreciate the allegorical and symbolic elements of discovering a party amidst our darkest moments. The timeless lesson woven into this tale speaks volumes to readers of all ages.
This story, crafted by Hallie Olson, now Hallie Wastell, when she was only 13, remained undiscovered until after her untimely passing from ovarian cancer in 2018. Her family has chosen to publish The Thunderstorm Party to share Hallie’s enchanting narrative with the world and to honor her memory by donating the book’s proceeds to Hallie’s Hearts Endowment at the Grand Traverse Community Foundation.
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About the Author
Hallie (Olson) Wastell was born in Lansing, Michigan, on April 7, 1972. Soon after, she moved with her father and mother to Traverse City, Michigan, on Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan. She attended Montessori and Traverse City Public Schools, wrote For the high school paper, excelled in college writing courses, and Loved women’s fashion, style, arts, music, books, and writing. She, with her two sisters, learned to ski at a young age and continued skiing and snowboarding in the spring before she died.
She and her husband, Jeff Wastell, met in Breckenridge, where she managed a clothing store, and he worked traveling the world for a snowboard company and magazine photos. Her children survived her and live with Jeff in Ventura, California.
Hallie was a wife, mother, sister, friend, women’s clothing stylist, and boutique women’s store owner, jewelry artisan, and nature lover in Colorado and the Great Lakes regions. During her four-year illness, she was a torchbearer in the fight against ovarian cancer. Despite her diagnosis in 2012 and the treatments that followed, Hallie never stopped living, loving, working, crafting jewelry, and writing her Facebook posts to share personal insights about ovarian cancer. She joined with other women in the fight against cancer and promoted “teal to heal,” her “Healing Hearts” logo (pictured attached) and appeared on television and took part in fundraisers and other events to bring a personal face to ovarian cancer.
When offered a “make a wish” gift, she chose instead to use it to arrange for the Denver firefighters to dress up as famous action figures—Superman, Batman, Spiderwoman—and scale the outside walls to the upper-floor children’s cancer center, while her wish came true as she stood inside gleaming from the excitement of the children (TV video recording available). She passed away on October 3, 2016, at 44 years old, in her Arvada, Colorado, home with her husband, son, daughter, and larger family at her side.
Her Facebook posts were widely read by friends, women with ovarian cancer, and strangers across the country, who have been touched by her open, honest, often humorous, accounts of living with cancer. Hallie lived with a fun-loving, courageous luminescence that brought goodwill to her life, family, friends, and others.
HALLIE’S HEARTS ENDOWMENT, in memory of Hallie Olson Wastell, serves the health and well-being of the Northern Michigan community by providing support for public education to increase awareness of ovarian cancer and for women with ovarian cancer in Northern Michigan. Benefit concerts and book events and net proceeds from book sales go to the endowment and the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, which makes annual gifts to the Cowell Cancer Center, Traverse City, Michigan, for ovarian cancer patients and their families.
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