It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
at
at
and #IMWAYR day
at
May 14, 2024 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
I have to admit that I still have Volcano : The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber from 1986 in my school library, mainly because I remember this happening. Obviously, after 40 plus years, the details are fuzzy, so it's good to see this major environmental event given a thorough nonfiction treatment.
Barone, who has a science background, does a good job at outlining the history of the volcanic activity in the area, and explains how modern scientific record keeping has changed over time. Sure, we know that there was an eruption in 1853 that killed fish, but there isn't the kind of seizmological information that can be gathered now. Even in 1980, the information wasn't necessarily computerized; the readings would come out on paper. The most astonishing thing to me was that there was a lot of data gathered, but because some of it was able to be printed over the weekend, it wasn't able to be used to warn people!
Earthquake tremors began to be felt in March of 1980, and scientists were very concerned. Weyerhauser loggers and scientists were the only ones who were supposed to stay in the area, but as time wore on and Mt. St. Helens made the news, tourists started coming in to the area to see what was going on. This caused a lot of safety hazards, especially on the narrow, winding mountain roads. A lot of people were evacuated, but there were some hold outs; one of the more memorable characters who was on the news a lot was Harry Truman, who was determined to stay in his lodge that he had run with his wife. He was 83, and felt he had prepared for the disaster, which wouldn't really effect him. He eventually perished.
While most of the Spirit Lake Residents left, and the YWCA and Boy Scout Camps got permission to remove equipment from their camps, there were a number of hikers, photographers, and scientists who flocked to the area. The book even talks about Keith and Dorothy Stoffel, geologists who decided to charter a helicopter to fly over the mountain and were practically on top of the volcano when it erupted! There was also a family who narrowly escaped. In all, 57 people died, including David Johnston, who was the one remaining scientist at one of the observation points.
There's lots of interesting scientific information about what was occurring with the volcano and also about the aftermath. I was fascinated by the fact that grass seed was scattered over the area to try to get things to grow. All that it did was to attract a large number of mice, who ate the seeds, and when they ran out, gnawed on the emerging trees! Had nothing been done, the area would have recuperated more quickly.
My only quibble with the book is that the cover made it seem like this would be a fictional book; it's somewhat similar to the Lauren Tarshis 2016 I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980 cover, right down to the anachronistic skinny jeans. I also wouldn't have minded a list of the 57 people who were killed; it would be a fitting memorial, although I'm sure the information is available online.
Like Barone's Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica and Unbreakable: The Spies Who Cracked the Nazis' Secret Code, this is a well researched and appealing written book that will get a lot of use. It's great for pleasure reading, but has enough details to make it a good choice for research as well. It reminded me a bit of Walker's 2011 Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 in its combination of facts and personal stories.
I have to admit that I still have Volcano : The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber from 1986 in my school library, mainly because I remember this happening. Obviously, after 40 plus years, the details are fuzzy, so it's good to see this major environmental event given a thorough nonfiction treatment.
Barone, who has a science background, does a good job at outlining the history of the volcanic activity in the area, and explains how modern scientific record keeping has changed over time. Sure, we know that there was an eruption in 1853 that killed fish, but there isn't the kind of seizmological information that can be gathered now. Even in 1980, the information wasn't necessarily computerized; the readings would come out on paper. The most astonishing thing to me was that there was a lot of data gathered, but because some of it was able to be printed over the weekend, it wasn't able to be used to warn people!
Earthquake tremors began to be felt in March of 1980, and scientists were very concerned. Weyerhauser loggers and scientists were the only ones who were supposed to stay in the area, but as time wore on and Mt. St. Helens made the news, tourists started coming in to the area to see what was going on. This caused a lot of safety hazards, especially on the narrow, winding mountain roads. A lot of people were evacuated, but there were some hold outs; one of the more memorable characters who was on the news a lot was Harry Truman, who was determined to stay in his lodge that he had run with his wife. He was 83, and felt he had prepared for the disaster, which wouldn't really effect him. He eventually perished.
While most of the Spirit Lake Residents left, and the YWCA and Boy Scout Camps got permission to remove equipment from their camps, there were a number of hikers, photographers, and scientists who flocked to the area. The book even talks about Keith and Dorothy Stoffel, geologists who decided to charter a helicopter to fly over the mountain and were practically on top of the volcano when it erupted! There was also a family who narrowly escaped. In all, 57 people died, including David Johnston, who was the one remaining scientist at one of the observation points.
There's lots of interesting scientific information about what was occurring with the volcano and also about the aftermath. I was fascinated by the fact that grass seed was scattered over the area to try to get things to grow. All that it did was to attract a large number of mice, who ate the seeds, and when they ran out, gnawed on the emerging trees! Had nothing been done, the area would have recuperated more quickly.
My only quibble with the book is that the cover made it seem like this would be a fictional book; it's somewhat similar to the Lauren Tarshis 2016 I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980 cover, right down to the anachronistic skinny jeans. I also wouldn't have minded a list of the 57 people who were killed; it would be a fitting memorial, although I'm sure the information is available online.
Like Barone's Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica and Unbreakable: The Spies Who Cracked the Nazis' Secret Code, this is a well researched and appealing written book that will get a lot of use. It's great for pleasure reading, but has enough details to make it a good choice for research as well. It reminded me a bit of Walker's 2011 Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 in its combination of facts and personal stories.
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So we'll see. So far there are 650 overdue books still. (5/13 update: 250.) Maybe next week I'll post about the textbooks.
Spaces that have no supervisor end up being trash pits in schools. Highlights included math overhead transparencies and notebooks of handouts from a teacher who left in 2004.
I've doe a few of those D.C. trips myself with kids. Never a dull moment! Hope yours went well.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Mountains of Fire but also initially thought it was a story about those 2 boys running from the lava flow. Thanks for the review and Happy MMGM!
It sounds like you've been busy lately, Karen, between shepherding 110 students on a trip, checking in 400 overdue books, and reading 89 books in a month! Just seven more days—you can make it through!! It sounds like Mountain of Fire is a really informative read, and definitely one kids will love, in terms of learning about disasters and the science and stories behind them. Thanks so much for the wonderful post, and enjoy your week!
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