Natural Disasters

Children's Literature - Amy S. Hansen

Part of "The Science Behind" series, Brasch looks at physics, earth sciences and epidemiology to explain how natural disasters work. The purpose of this series is to look at questions that children often have, and to that end, the topics are listed as questions at the beginning of each spread. The thirteen topics covered in the book, include discussions of earthquakes, mudslides and drought. Each spread section is supported by graphics with arrows showing motion and multiple captions. The double-spread section also has its own vocabulary words in a yellow box, as well as a box marked "Web Watch" with links for more information, and other boxes with one or two interesting facts. In this book, Brasch has one hands-on activity associated with mudslides. As with the other books in this series, the writing is clear and straightforward, and the layout does a good job of demonstrating the forces being discussed. Since the glossary and the further reading sections are in the text, the back-matter consists of only the index. Reviewer: Amy S. Hansen