Volcanoes: Mountains That Blow Their Tops

by Nicholas Nirgiotis

Overview

It is a quiet day on an island. Then suddenly a mountain blows its top! It is a volcano. How does it start? What happens next? Read this amazing book and find out.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780448411439
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	02/21/1996
Series:	Penguin Young Readers Level 3 Series
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	1,096,511
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	830L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Nicholas Nirgiotis is a published author of children's books. Some of the published credits of Nicholas Nirgiotis include An All Aboard Reading Station Stop 3 Collection: Extreme Nature (All Aboard Reading) and No More Dodos: How Zoos Help Endangered Wildlife.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 1-3Brief facts about volcanoes, presented in simple language. The narrative has a too-familiar tone and the author uses many exclamation points. An anecdote is told in the present tense: "The mountain blows its top!...Just two people get away. One is a girl. She knows a cave. She used to play there." Then readers are told, "This is a true story. It happened in 1902." Nirgiotis switches to the past tense for the more factual remainder of the book. The writing is awkward and confusing. Some volcanoes are mentioned by name, but while the story of the eruption of Paricutin in Mexico is told, its name and date are not mentioned. Brightly colored, inviting cut-paper illustrations magnify and clarify the text. Depictions of the different stages of Paricutin and before-and-after pictures of the eruption of Mount St. Helens create interest. However, the quality of the pictures does not make up for the inconsistencies in the text. A better title on Paricutin for this age group is Thomas P. Lewis's Hill of Fire (1971). Franklyn Branley's Volcanoes (1986, both HarperCollins) provides better factual coverage for a slightly older audience.Anne Parker, Milton Public Library, MA

School Library Journal