About a month ago, in my Hats for Haiti? post, I mentioned a Reading Rockets article about using picture books to understand what happened “over there.”  These are the three nonfiction titles we chose from the list.

Ellen J. Prager.  Earthquakes.  Illustrated by Susan Greenstein.  National Geographic, 2002.  32 pages.  Age 4 to 7.

The unfortunate thing about this title that the buildings sort of look like they’re dancing.  I made that comment off-hand before opening the book, and it put my not-quite-5 year old in a silly mood—not quite the tone I wanted to set.  The opening words (“Shake, rattle, and roll”) did nothing to help.

What I like about this book is just about everything else.  It’s great for the youngest nonfiction readers, with concise, accessible text that uses analogies to help to help explain this complex topic.  Here is a sample passage:

“Most earthquakes happen because the Earth’s outer surface is moving.  Like a giant jigsaw puzzle, the planet’s outer surface is made up of big pieces called plates.  These plates move very slowly in different directions, so slowly you can’t feel them moving.” (p. 14)

The advantage of this book over the other two, content-wise, is its simple diagram of earthquake-resistant architecture.  It also provided the best advice of what to in the event of an earthquake, and included a simple science experiment to show how buildings shift during a quake.

Franklyn M. Branley.  Earthquakes.  Illustrated by Megan Lloyd.  HarperCollins, 2005.  34 pages.  5 to 8.

The illustrations in this book are much more realistic than in the National Geographic book.  The text goes a little more in-depth, and it uses historical examples of earthquakes.  Tsunamis are discussed, and there is more coverage of the destruction caused to things like bridges and underground pipes.  But the text is still simple enough for young children to understand:

“Every earthquake has a center.  That’s where it all begins.  Parts of the earth move up and down or sideways and make waves that spread out and go through the whole earth.  They are called seismic waves.  The word comes from seismos, a Greek word meaning to shake.  Scientists all over the world measure the waves on seismometers.” (p. 8-9)

At the end of the book, there is a page with more earthquake facts, and a list of the top ten most destructive earthquakes in terms of lives lost.  Looks like Haiti will be on that list in the next revision.

Seymour Simon.  Earthquakes.  Smithsonian/Collins, 2006.  32 pages.  Age 7 to 12.

The advantage of this book, besides a more sophisticated text, is the use of actual photographs to show how much destruction an earthquake can really cause.  Those are supplemented by illustrations that explain concepts like fault lines, and maps that show earthquake zones.

The book provides greater explanations of things like seismographs and the Richter Scale, and introduces the Mercali Intensity Scale.  Of the three, this book is the best bet for older readers:

“Our planet’s solid rocky crust floats on the mantle, a 1,800-mile-thick layer of very hot and dense rock that slowly churns around like a huge pot of boiling soup in very slow motion.  The slowly moving mantle carries along the solid crust, which is cracked like an eggshell into a number of huge pieces called plates.” (p. 13)

Nonfiction Monday is at SimplyScience Blog today.

[ Posted in » Book Review Channel :: Nonfiction Reviews ]