Canadian Materials
- Gail Hamilton
(starred review) KABOOM! looks at the scientific principles behind a variety of explosions and presents them in an engaging way ... Richardson's writing style will appeal to readers ... She explains scientific concepts in a fairly simple fashion ... A lively, attractive layout and plenty of colour photos, black and white archival photos, diagrams, drawings and paintings enhance the text. A particularly excellent photo of workers shaping the face of George Washington on Mount Rushmore serves to demonstrate scale and proportion. Also included are a table of contents, an index and a list of books and web sites for further study. Educational and appealing. Highly Recommended.
Children's Literature
- Marilyn Courtot
An explosion can be something as simple and pleasant as a kernel of corn popping to a potentially dangerous event such as a volcano exploding. As the author explains there are various types of explosions and some of them including the two mentioned can be positive. The popcorn is a tasty treat and a volcano can create new land. Explosions can occur in nature or they can be created by people. Even though they can be scary explosions are fascinating—the geysers at Yellowstone, the death of a star, solar flares, plants and animals that send out seeds or spores and squirt chemicals to snare prey or defend themselves. After a look at explosions that occur in nature, the author turns to those created by people. Certainly among the earliest of the destructive forces was gunpowder and dynamite. There are insets describing some very serious explosions such as the one in Halifax Harbor in 1917 which took the lives of 2,000 people when a ship filled with munitions blew up. Explosions have been used to build, including the blasting of rocks to open channels and build structures such as the Panama Canal. Other explosions that catch the eye are the ones designed to bring down buildings—implosions and ones that we do not even think about—the internal combustion engine that runs our automobiles. Another example that may be a surprise, is the use of explosives to create the faces on Mount Rushmore. Dynamite removed unwanted rock. Fireworks inspire us with awe, but if not handled properly, these explosive devices can cause serious damage. The book closes with a description of some special effects that we see in movies or on TV. There is an extensive bibliography, list of further readings,and index. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot
School Library Journal
Gr 5–8—With comic-style sound-effect headings and fact boxes galore, Kaboom! highlights the supercharged of the natural and manmade worlds, from astronomy, geology, biology, herbology, and entomology to chemistry, mechanics, pyrotechnics, and art. Text is broken into asymmetrical panels for bite-size explanations. Some explosions are captured in sequence and detail with historical and high-speed photography and illustrations in comic-style panel frames. Though the subjects, especially flatulence, will interest younger students, the vocabulary and background knowledge more typical of middle schoolers is required for full appreciation, especially for the astronomy explosions. Kaboom! is an engrossing attention-getter, effectively tapping the sensationalism of all types of blasts.—S. McClendon, Friends School of Atlanta, Decatur, GA
