Volcanoes

There have been a number of recent picture books about volcanoes, and this offering from Scholastic does a great job of engaging kids as it explores volcanoes' majesty and mysteries, providing insights into basic earth science. There are two tracks of dialogue: one consists of brief, lyrical descriptions of earthquakes, eruptions, and lava flows ("Oozing like thick, hot honey. Glowing taffy"), and another offers paragraphs filling in more sophisticated but still accessible details ("Lava leaves volcanoes in different ways. Gently flowing lava is called pahoehoe"). The two-page spreads address different aspects: from shifting plates, eruptions, volcanologists, new land formation, and tsunamis to the wonders of the new life-forms encountered during deep-sea volcanic exploration and the more recent discoveries of extraterrestrial volcanoes. Full-page illustrations support and enhance the text, adding to the overall tone of respectful awe. Back matter includes author's and illustrator's notes, plus further reading suggestions. This slim selection serves well as introductory or supplemental material and should find a wide, enthusiastic audience.

A dramatic introduction to volcanic eruptions and those who study them. "A rumble. / A tremble. / A grumble. / Growing, / growling, / getting hot. / When will it… // POP?!" Blast out, more like, as Chock depicts in grand, painted views of glowing lava bursting upward amid billowing clouds of hot gases from peaks around the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire and elsewhere. In a mix of awed free verse and blocks of prose commentary, Beckerman looks back to notable ones of the past from Krakatoa to a 2022 blast in the Tonga Islands and pays tribute to the intrepid researchers ("Superheroes? Scientists") who venture onto shoe-melting slopes to study these spectacular "megaphones / of magma." Backmatter describes the five types of volcanic eruptions. The author discusses hydrothermal vents (which emit hot water rather than hot rock), spotlighting them as the places where life on our planet may have originated. She also directs nods to humongous Olympus Mons on Mars and volcanos elsewhere in the solar system. "Volcanoes / everywhere," she concludes, are worthy of deep study for the clues they hold both to our past and to what is to come. A vibrant tribute that pops with strong feeling and riveting art. (author's and illustrator's notes, further reading, the big questions that volcanologists are trying to answer, additional facts) (Informational picture book. 7-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.