Wild Weather

August 30, 2019

Gr 3-6-In this "Science Comics" entry, fictive TV weatherman Stormin' Norman Weatherby schools featherbrained cohost Chase McCloud (and readers) in the essentials of meteorology-from the origins of the term to clouds, fronts, and the water cycle, plus tornados, hurricanes, lightning, and the causes and effects of climate change. Along with being exposed to extreme weather events both real ("Snowpocalypse") and bogus ("Sharknado"), readers will be inundated with easily absorbed information about meteorological gear and tools, blown through a compilation of "wild weather myths" (by consulting meteorologist Alicia Wasula), and pushed into keeping a general disaster plan and kit on hand. In neatly laid out panels, Hill alternates cartoon figures in a TV studio with diagrammatic views of atmospheric elements, molecules in action, and scenes of widespread destruction. VERDICT Readers are sure to be struck-not by lightning (one hopes) but by the scope and drama of the phenomena described in this breezy overview.-John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York

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