Tsunamis

by Judith Bloom Fradin, Dennis Brindell Fradin (Editor)

It's another beautiful day of your paradise vacation in South Asia. You look out onto a calm sea on this day after Christmas, already looking forward to ringing in 2005. But why is the ocean receding so far from shore? Are those "fish" flapping around in the sand? Something is not right. Your island getaway is about to be devastated with the 80-foot-plus waves of one of the worst tsunamis in history.
The 2004 Asian Tsunami was the result of the second largest earthquake ever recorded. Lasting over eight minutes, it was also the longest on record. The quake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, large enough to vibrate the entire planet, violent enough to move an ocean. Through eyewitness accounts and dramatic photography, the first chapter of "Tsunamis" puts you in the terrifying path of the wave that washed ashore in many countries. The tsunami wiped out whole communities and claimed an estimated 230,000 lives. "Tsunamis" explores the science, history, and personal experience of tsunamis and shows kids what scientists are doing to develop early warning systems so we can survive such disasters in the future. "From the Hardcover edition."

ebook

First published June 10, 2008

About the author

Judith Fradin has co-authored more than three dozen children’s and young adult books with her husband, renowned writer Dennis Fradin. Starting in the 1990s, Judy began helping Dennis research and write the From Sea to Shining Sea state book series for Children's Press. When those books were completed, the Fradins collaborated on Who was Sagagawea?

Their next joint venture, the Clarion young adult biography Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, became the first of their three Society for Midland Authors Award winners. More award-winning Fradin biographies followed, including Five Thousand Miles to Freedom. The Fradins then co-authored the Witness to Disaster series for National Geographic Children's Books.

Judy Fradin loves visiting schools and libraries, sharing how an idea becomes a book as well as practical tips about writing non-fiction. She has spectacular slide shows for each of her Witness to Disaster books and for Five Thousand Miles to Freedom as well as her books about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Her Underground Railroad presentation features pictures she obtained for Bound for the North Star, Dennis's collection of true slave-escape accounts.