April 1, 2017
Gr 3-6-After presenting a real-life example of people impacted by the title disaster, each book discusses the causes, warning signs, and potential impact of these natural events. The amount of attention given to scientific prediction and detection varies. For example, Floods devotes several pages to prevention, including diagrams of various types of dams. Wildfires and Hurricanes offer the greatest detail about how scientific methods and instruments have changed and improved through the years. Those volumes represent the top choices from the series. Related publisher resources online include detailed lesson plans and activities. VERDICT Teachers building science curricula may want the entire set to make comparisons and connections among volumes, although each book stands alone for collections needing to supplement only specific subject areas.
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 1, 2017
Grades 2-5 Though it might seem like volcanoes erupt without warning, scientists can often predict when they'll explode, and this entry in the Detecting Disasters series outlines some of the methods volcanologists use to keep people safe from eruptions. A couple of chapters outline basic volcano science, including plate tectonics, volcano types, and how they form, before getting to the instruments and methods volcanologists use when monitoring active volcanoes, such as spectrometers, which identify gasses emitted by craters, or tiltmeters, which can measure whether a volcano is changing shape. Though the somewhat muddled organization of each chapter might be a challenge for some students, the atypical approachfocusing on tools and monitoring systemsand exciting photos of erupting volcanoes might lure in middle-grade students. A brief glossary, quiz, and volcano-safety checklist round out this volume.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)