In the first chapter of WITNESS TO DISASTER: VOLANOES, readers are given a sense of what happens when a volcano is born. The authors have gathered together eyewitness accounts of the Volcano Paricutin, which allows us to follow along from the first crack in the cornfield to the monumental growth of a mountain towering 2000 feet in the sky, spewing smoke and ash for years after its first explosion. The following chapters alternate history with science. Readers will learn why volcanoes explode, what kinds of volcanoes there are, what scientists are doing to help people avoid getting hurt, the worst/biggest/deadliest volcanoes in history, and much more. The ample backmatter will allow a student to easily find the information needed to complete a report.

Reviews

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 Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.