Landslides

Children's Literature

Extreme color photos throughout this book will help young readers see the reality of how destructive landslides can be. Several of the photos show homes that slid down hills as if they were built of hay instead of brick and concrete. But this book provides more than visuals of landslides; it also describes exactly what they are, including the causes and ways to possibly prevent landslides. It discusses erosion, earthquakes, and volcanoes as potential causes, and even has a chapter about famous landslides, which helps put them into perspective. Mount Saint Helens (1980) and the Peru mudslide (1970) are two examples. There is a glossary, a list of book references, a list of addresses, and a page describing how to use a helpful Web site that has links to more information relating to landslides. These links were chosen by this publisher's editors and are easy to use. This title is part of the "Natural Disasters" series. 2003, Capstone Press,
— Cherie Ilg Haas

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-The simple text in the first book is often repetitious and does not address the issue of climate change as a possible cause of recurrent droughts. Colorful photographs and illustrations are sometimes poorly captioned or not captioned at all. A section entitled "Famous Droughts" has a clear explanation of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s but a much less-useful discussion of the drought of the African Sahel or the United States in 1987-89. A list of useful addresses includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency as well as the American Refugee Committee but gives no reasons as to why they should be contacted. The second book follows the same format but concentrates on devastating landslides occurring in the last 40 years. A chapter on survival includes the helpful hint that you should try to keep your head above the mud during a mudslide. These works are called high-interest books but the generally dry texts will probably entice only students who are doing reports.-Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, Trinity-Pawling School, Pawling, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.