Trapped

Starred review from June 13, 2011
Aronson marks the one-year anniversary of the collapse of a Chilean copper mine that entombed miners for more than two months with a riveting, in-depth recounting of the events that held the world rapt. His fluid narrative begins with a brief eyewitness account of the cave-in before contextualizing the disaster. Initial chapters cover mine layout and terminology, as well as prehistoric geology (and how it helped form Chile's Atacama Desert) and the mythology of the blacksmith god, Hephaistos, who "creates the tool the hero needs, and yet he is lame, ugly, a figure of fun." Aronson (Sugar Changed the World) smartly links this ancient pejorative attitude to contemporary ones toward mining despite reliance on its products, drawing on cultural connections between the underground world and hell, Hades, etc. Twelve short chapters with photos and diagrams keep the story well-paced as it alternates between above- and below-ground scenes, detailing the heroic efforts of the trapped men, their waiting families, and their rescuers, sometimes on an hour-by-hour basis. Extensive author and source notes, a bibliography, and suggested reading leave plenty for readers to explore. Ages 8â12.

July 15, 2011

On August 5, 2010, 33 miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground in northern Chile's unsafe San José mine, setting off a story that captured the attention of the world, "from experts on outer space to drill bit manufacturers from Pennsylvania, from nutritionists to camera crews."

Leave it to Aronson to set the context for the event by going back in time 40 million years to the "great dance of the shifting continents" and the rise of the Himalayas, the creation of the polar ice caps and the formation of the Nazca Plate. This last pushed itself under the continent of South America, where cracks, crevices and deep veins hold treasures of gold, silver and copper. No one would ever come to the lifeless deserts of northern Chile if it weren't for the mines, which help supply the 16 pounds of copper the average American uses in a year. The rescue of the miners after 69 days was a story of hope, prayer and technological skill. Photographs, maps, diagrams and a wild range of literary references, from Merlin to Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Hephaistos, enliven the volume. The author uses these familiar touch points to help tell a complicated story, blending them with such highly technical information as mining machinery to keep his narrative flowing.

Aronson's first work about a current event may leave readers feeling claustrophobic, but they'll be inspired by this modern-day tale of survival. (source notes, list of interviews, websites) (Nonfiction. 9-14)

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Starred review from August 1, 2011

Gr 7 Up-Masterful storytelling brings to life a story that most think they already know; the 33 miners trapped in a Chilean copper mine for 69 days in 2010. It was headline news for two months, with people glued to their televisions watching those final, dramatic rescues. It was a gripping story then, and Aronson manages to make it even more exciting, more inspirational, and more personal, all by gathering pieces of the puzzle and showing how they fit together. Explanations of how the Earth's formation and plate tectonics created the copper lines that are so valuable to the world today are a critical beginning. Filling them in with a brief history of metalworking and mining leads readers to the small, out-of-the-way mine in the Atacama Desert region. From there the story becomes as intriguing and suspenseful as any work of fiction; the miners' struggle to survive below ground is juxtaposed with the frenzy of the work aboveground by the mine officials, the government, and many others working to save the men. Detailed descriptions of the conditions that the miners endured and how they coped paint a vivid picture of just what an ordeal it was. The global response to the disaster was enormous, with organizations, governments, and individuals from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Japan offering resources and expertise to find a solution. Ample source notes, black-and-white and color photographs, websites, and a brief explanation of research methodology round out this must-have for any library.-Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

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