April 1, 2016
Gr 3-6-Following a two-page overview of the title event, each volume presents four or five dramatic accounts of people who experienced the effects. Photos of survivors accompany many stories, including those of a small boy pulled from Haiti's earthquake rubble and a man floating on his house 10 miles off the coast of Japan. Along with tales of heroic rescues are unusual discussions such as how animals fled well before people sensed the Indian Ocean tsunami and how a structure was designed to survive wildfires. The locations, causes, and extent of each disaster are well documented. VERDICT Individual accounts of disaster survivors put human faces on statistics of injuries, fatalities, and devastating losses. A top choice for most collections.
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2016
In a series about real-life disaster survival, this volume focuses on the earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. A brief introduction describes the disaster, followed by five chapters that detail real individuals' involvement. Gripping, you-are-there narratives are supplemented with primary source quotations (footnoted and sourced); photos and other graphics (maps, graphs, diagrams, etc.) provide additional insight. Reading list, timeline. Glos., ind.
(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)