Shake, Rattle, and Roll : The World's Most Amazing Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Other Forces (Spencer Christians World of Wonders)

Rating:
Summary: The best kids' book on the topic I've found
Review: I liked this book for its straightforward language and friendly graphics. It is jam-packed with fun facts and easy activities that illustrate major concepts in earth science. I don't agree with the age range stated... The back of the book says ages 8 to 12, and I think this is more appropriate. I intend to use this book as a more interesting text for a sixth-grade lesson that I will be teaching on plate tectonics and vulcanology.

Rating:
Summary: I recommend this book for teachers of Earth Science
Review: I teach Earth Science to 6th graders. This book has been very useful for when I had to teach about Earthquakes and Volcanoes. The illustrations in the book are simple, yet excellent for showing some of Earth's processes. The drawings show how hot spot volcanoes are formed, how subduction works, and how geysers erupt. It compares the convection currents in a pot of boiling water to the way molten lava moves under the Earth's crust. I enlarge many of the illustrations and make them into transparencies to use as visual aids for my students. These help me to explain complicated concepts in simpler terms. The book has fun facts that can be copied onto transparencies too. Some that I liked were "Bizarre Things Animals Do before an Earthquake"( Cute illustrations of animals going bonkers), "Early Explanations About Earthquakes" (Shows a jaguar brushing up against the pillars of the world), "The Discovery of Pompeii (Nice illustration of the method for creating sculptures of the bodies found in Pompeii). There are lists of the world's deadliest volcanic eruptions and the most destructive earthquakes in the world. I wouldn't do any of the activities in the book with my students because they seem time consuming, a bit messy, and would cost too much to do with a whole class. However, the experiments would be fun to do at home with your children. I just purchased the other books in Spencer Christian's World of Wonders series because I loved this one so much.