Lauber, P. (1986). Volcano: The eruption and healing of Mount St. Helens. New York: Bradbury Press.
This is the
story of Mount St. Helens and how she awoke in 1980. The book is a beautiful photo essay of this area of the Cascade
Mountain Range.
The author
uses a chronological sequence structure:
the volcano wakes, it erupts, she describes damage and survivors, and then tells how
nature returned. The readers learn what caused the eruption and about the
effects on the surrounding area. Mount St. Helens taught scientists much about
volcanoes and how nature rallies after a disaster. The author’s tone is conversational, with just the right
amount of vocabulary. She uses a cause
and effect structure through much of the story.
The
photography is detailed and photos of the snow-topped mountains are simply
breathtaking. I’d never considered the domino effect of a volcanic eruption.
The eruption started an avalanche that caused a mudflow into a river. The raging river
churned through a valley and took out bridges, homes, and even hurled large
boulders. This blocked shipping channels in connecting rivers miles away.
This is a
Newberry Honor Book, and it’s easy to see why. I’m a fiction-lover and couldn’t
put this book down because the author was able to convey suspense and a sense
of hope.
Children and
adults would enjoy the book in a variety of ways. It would be a good read-aloud
for a younger elementary classroom. It would make a great resource for a
project in an older elementary classroom. The cover photograph is appealing: a
snow-capped Mount St. Helens as it begins to leak steam and ash.
No comments:
Post a Comment