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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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and #IMWAYR day
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E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Middle grade readers are fond of disaster books, and many of them have an interest in particular occurrences; there are always Titanic fans, and last year I had two readers who couldn't get enough shipwreck books. I personally find the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire fascinating. This book will appeal to those readers, but I can think of a lot of uses for this well done overview of historical tragedies.
The events in this book are arranged chronilogically, which is a big help. The events that you would expect to see, like Vesuvius, the Great Chicago Fire, Exxon Valdez, and Chernobyl are all there, as well some that are lesser known like the Halifax explosion and the Hartford Circus fire. There are natural disasters, plane crashes, building collapses, and even The Who concert disaster, but nothing about wars or mass shootings, which was a good call. Many different places in the world are covered.
Each event gets a page that describes general conditions that led up the the disaster, what happened and how many people were affected, and what the impact of the disaster was, if any. The change in labor practices after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire is one of the reasons I find it so interesting.
This would be a great book to spark history projects as well. The articles on each event are short enough for a student to page through the book until something speaks, and there's enough information to start researching. It looks like this, along with Felder's 100 Women Who Shaped American History, might be the start of a new 31 book set from Sourcebooks. It was difficult to find too much information about the series, so perhaps this is just the start. I'll definitely being exploring more of these titles.
What is it about middle schoolers and their fascination with terrible things? The kids I used to work with loved war. Not sure why. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteJust introduced my great grandson to a Survival series. Will be curious how he responds. Will keep this book in mind, because I too enjoy reading them. Great to know kids like them at your school! Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting book. I think students will enjoy it, but I could probably learn a lot from it, too!
ReplyDeleteI think this book sounds fascinating. I think I will be checking it out. Thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteI guess I am a middle-grader at heart. This is the kind of book I find fascinating. Fortunately, my local library has it, and I've requested a copy. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
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