Review by Booklist Review
"This offering from the new Witness to Disaster series introduces readers to these violent eruptions, using eyewitness accounts to explain the history and science involved. They begin with a report of the 1943 birth of a volcano in Paricutín, Mexico, which grew to a height of almost 2,000 feet and completely destroyed a farmer's cornfield and an entire village. Subsequent chapters describe other celebrated volcanoes, explain their causes and types, note the benefits of these eruptions, and clarify how they are currently predicted. New vocabulary is defined within the text and in the appended glossary. Numerous clear, well-chosen photographs and diagrams help to convey the great power of volcanic activity and the consequences to humans. Pull-quote comments from volcanologists, other scientists, and everyday witnesses to these disasters, designed to hook readers' interest, are a distinct plus. Capped with the usual back matter, this will be useful for report writers, and a fascinating pick for browsers."--"Weisman, Kay" Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Volcanoes are big in the imagination, bigger in reality, and even larger in the Earth-science curriculum. The Fradins describe a passel of these behemoths, from the well known (Mount St. Helens) to the less heralded (the Loihi seamount), showing how their fierce pyrotechnics can affect such disparate factors as weather, geography, local economies, and history. Handsome color photos, a diagram, and two small maps accompany the clearly written text. Larded with interesting quotes ("I realized that the soles of my shoes were starting to melt"), the discussion ranges from lahars to tiltmeters, and from magma chambers to pyroclastic flows. A glossary and further-research suggestions are included, as is a bibliography and a list of persons interviewed by the authors as they carried out their own research (a nice touch).Team this title with Susanna Van Rose's detailed Volcano & Earthquake (DK, 2004), Patricia Lauber's classic Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mt. St. Helens (S & S, 1986), Donna O'Meara's intensely personal Into the Volcano (Kids Can, 2005), and Elizabeth Rusch's investigative Will It Blow? (Sasquatch, 2007) for an explosion of volcanology.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
