Natural Disasters

March 1, 2013

Gr 4-7-Spiraling winds, surging waters, eruptions, blazing forests, and chilling snows are discussed with clarity and detail and include the most recent information, e.g., the MMS Scale and the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Hence, readers may accurately grasp the impact of nature's destructive forces. In addition to a lucid explanation of each type of phenomenon, safety tips, historical incidences, pen-and-ink line drawings, and correlative projects using simple materials are included to provide firsthand evidence of scientific processes involved in natural forces. Useful for science units.-Kathryn Diman, Bass Harbor Memorial Library, Bernard, ME

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2012
Grades 2-4 This utilitarian looking but enticingly titled entry in the Build It Yourself series pairs background information about hurricanes, volcanoes, wildfires, floods, and less common events, such as limnetic eruptions and meteor strikes, to 25 low-tech re-creations or demonstrations. The background covers basics in simple language but enough detail to introduce special terms like convection and standard intensity scales, from the Richter and MMS (for earthquakes) to the Enhanced Fujita (tornadoes) and Saffir-Simpson (hurricanes). Though the illustrations are pedestrian cartoons, and the projects range in quality from an edible volcano built with puffed rice and melted marshmallows to a notably anticlimactic (to young experimenters, at least) demo of how a fire line works, using shredded paper and red food coloring, this makes a serviceable mix of elementary facts about the courses and causes of various widespread natural calamities with relevant but minimally hazardous hands-on enrichment activities.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)