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Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima
Deirdre Langeland's Meltdown explores for middle grade readers the harrowing story of the deadly earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown that caused the 2011 Fukushima power plant disaster
On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima triggering the nightmare scenario--a nuclear meltdown.
For six days, employees at the plant worked to contain the meltdown and disaster workers scoured the surrounding flooded area for survivors.
This book examines the science behind such a massive disaster and looks back at the people who experienced an unprecedented trifecta of destruction.
On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima triggering the nightmare scenario--a nuclear meltdown.
For six days, employees at the plant worked to contain the meltdown and disaster workers scoured the surrounding flooded area for survivors.
This book examines the science behind such a massive disaster and looks back at the people who experienced an unprecedented trifecta of destruction.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published February 23, 2021
10 people are currently reading
1222 people want to read
About the author
Deirdre Langeland
15 books33 followersDeirdre Langeland has been a children's book editor and writer for more than twenty years. She currently freelances as an editor and ghost writer, focusing on science and nature explainers for young readers. Her own books include Octopus' Den and Kangaroo Island. She lives in New York's Hudson River valley.
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May 5, 2021
Richie’s Picks: MELTDOWN: EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR DISASTER AT FUKUSHIMA by Deirdre Langeland, Roaring Brook, February 2021, 208p., ISBN: 978-1-62672-700-7
“Just give me the warm power of the sun
Give me the steady flow of a waterfall
Give me the spirit of living things as they return to clay
Just give me the restless power of the wind
Give me the comforting glow of a wood fire
But please take all your atomic poison power away”
-- John Hall, “Power” (1979)
“All that had been was now no more.”
-- Pearl S. Buck, The Big Wave (1948)
“Like most disasters, the Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami came with little warning. There had been foreshocks, smaller earthquakes that shook the countryside for days before the main event, but there’s nothing unusual about earthquakes in Japan. On average, Japan experiences about 2,000 earthquakes that are strong enough to be felt every year. In real time, it’s impossible to know whether an earthquake is its own event or a precursor of something bigger on the way. Only afterward, once the Big One has come and gone, can seismologists go back and see the pattern that led up to it. And so, the millions of residents of Tohoku went about their business that afternoon in March as they had on all the others before.”
MELTDOWN: EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR DISASTER AT FUKUSHIMA is the story of a massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered a massive nuclear disaster. The author recounts events, alternating the history with the harrowing personal narratives of those who experienced or responded to the disaster. Although the meltdown occurred a decade ago, the environmental, economic, and social consequences are ongoing.
The author does a stellar job of explaining earth science, nuclear technology, and construction principles related to what happened. Given this clarity, many readers will ponder the advisability of erecting a string of nuclear power plants in an unstable zone in which natural forces can unleash waves the height of a ten-story building.
In explaining all this to a tween and teen readership, I was particularly impressed by the manner in which the author begins with a basic explanation of atoms, and then moves on to isotopes. She ultimately builds on these explanations to show how shorter-lived radioactive isotopes released during these nuclear disasters can “fool” our bodies and destroy them from the inside.
The text is accompanied by illustrations that illuminate the natural forces central to the narrative, images that help readers grasp the structure and operation of the nuclear plants, and stunning photographs of the disastrous meltdown aftermath.
MELTDOWN is a notable, eye-opening, and frequently jaw-dropping work of narrative nonfiction. The book will be accessible to 10-14 year olds, but will also captivate and concern older teen and adult audiences.
Back in my post-college years, I participated in a successful fight to prevent construction of nuclear power plants on eastern Long Island. Since then, the folly of using nuclear power to boil water, turn a turbine, and create electricity, has been revealed by accidents like those at Fukushima. Nevertheless, the world’s mounting climate change crisis has led to a push for electric-powered vehicles and, in turn, the need to generate more electricity, preferably without fossil fuels. Many are once again advocating increased use of nuclear power plants. This is going to quickly become a significant issue.
How would you like a potential disaster operating in your neighborhood?
“A man named Toru Anzai in the town of Iitate, a full 25 miles northwest of the Fukushima plant, later remembered the explosion at Reactor 4. ‘I heard the sound of the explosion, and the air turned hazy and rust-red. There was also a metallic burning smell, and even indoors my face and exposed skin started to sting. The radiation was very high around that time. My legs felt as though they were sunburned.’ That night, a radiation monitor at the village hall in Iitate registered 44.7 mSv per hour. Remember, the annual limit for radiation exposure for a worker in emergency situations was 250 mSv per year.”
In addition to these deadly and environmentally disastrous mishaps, society must also deal with the vast quantities of spent fuel rods, which remain radioactive for 10,000 years. And civilian nuclear power technology helps enable nuclear weapon-making, making power plants ripe for terrorism threats.
However you slice it, nuclear power is dangerous and costly, and a terrible way to boil water.
Given the disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, we’d be wise to use other technologies to produce electricity. What might younger generations do to deal with climate change while not enabling potential nuclear disasters? Are there safer and healthier alternatives that will yield sufficient power to meet our needs? This necessary and consequential discussion makes MELTDOWN: EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR DISASTER AT FUKUSHIMA one of the year’s most timely and essential pieces of nonfiction for young people. The quality of the writing and the book making make it one not to be missed.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
https://twitter.com/richiespicks
richiepartington@gmail.com
“Just give me the warm power of the sun
Give me the steady flow of a waterfall
Give me the spirit of living things as they return to clay
Just give me the restless power of the wind
Give me the comforting glow of a wood fire
But please take all your atomic poison power away”
-- John Hall, “Power” (1979)
“All that had been was now no more.”
-- Pearl S. Buck, The Big Wave (1948)
“Like most disasters, the Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami came with little warning. There had been foreshocks, smaller earthquakes that shook the countryside for days before the main event, but there’s nothing unusual about earthquakes in Japan. On average, Japan experiences about 2,000 earthquakes that are strong enough to be felt every year. In real time, it’s impossible to know whether an earthquake is its own event or a precursor of something bigger on the way. Only afterward, once the Big One has come and gone, can seismologists go back and see the pattern that led up to it. And so, the millions of residents of Tohoku went about their business that afternoon in March as they had on all the others before.”
MELTDOWN: EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR DISASTER AT FUKUSHIMA is the story of a massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered a massive nuclear disaster. The author recounts events, alternating the history with the harrowing personal narratives of those who experienced or responded to the disaster. Although the meltdown occurred a decade ago, the environmental, economic, and social consequences are ongoing.
The author does a stellar job of explaining earth science, nuclear technology, and construction principles related to what happened. Given this clarity, many readers will ponder the advisability of erecting a string of nuclear power plants in an unstable zone in which natural forces can unleash waves the height of a ten-story building.
In explaining all this to a tween and teen readership, I was particularly impressed by the manner in which the author begins with a basic explanation of atoms, and then moves on to isotopes. She ultimately builds on these explanations to show how shorter-lived radioactive isotopes released during these nuclear disasters can “fool” our bodies and destroy them from the inside.
The text is accompanied by illustrations that illuminate the natural forces central to the narrative, images that help readers grasp the structure and operation of the nuclear plants, and stunning photographs of the disastrous meltdown aftermath.
MELTDOWN is a notable, eye-opening, and frequently jaw-dropping work of narrative nonfiction. The book will be accessible to 10-14 year olds, but will also captivate and concern older teen and adult audiences.
Back in my post-college years, I participated in a successful fight to prevent construction of nuclear power plants on eastern Long Island. Since then, the folly of using nuclear power to boil water, turn a turbine, and create electricity, has been revealed by accidents like those at Fukushima. Nevertheless, the world’s mounting climate change crisis has led to a push for electric-powered vehicles and, in turn, the need to generate more electricity, preferably without fossil fuels. Many are once again advocating increased use of nuclear power plants. This is going to quickly become a significant issue.
How would you like a potential disaster operating in your neighborhood?
“A man named Toru Anzai in the town of Iitate, a full 25 miles northwest of the Fukushima plant, later remembered the explosion at Reactor 4. ‘I heard the sound of the explosion, and the air turned hazy and rust-red. There was also a metallic burning smell, and even indoors my face and exposed skin started to sting. The radiation was very high around that time. My legs felt as though they were sunburned.’ That night, a radiation monitor at the village hall in Iitate registered 44.7 mSv per hour. Remember, the annual limit for radiation exposure for a worker in emergency situations was 250 mSv per year.”
In addition to these deadly and environmentally disastrous mishaps, society must also deal with the vast quantities of spent fuel rods, which remain radioactive for 10,000 years. And civilian nuclear power technology helps enable nuclear weapon-making, making power plants ripe for terrorism threats.
However you slice it, nuclear power is dangerous and costly, and a terrible way to boil water.
Given the disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, we’d be wise to use other technologies to produce electricity. What might younger generations do to deal with climate change while not enabling potential nuclear disasters? Are there safer and healthier alternatives that will yield sufficient power to meet our needs? This necessary and consequential discussion makes MELTDOWN: EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR DISASTER AT FUKUSHIMA one of the year’s most timely and essential pieces of nonfiction for young people. The quality of the writing and the book making make it one not to be missed.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
https://twitter.com/richiespicks
richiepartington@gmail.com
August 9, 2021
First sentence from the preface: Fukushima. To people all around the world, the name has come to mean one thing: nuclear disaster. They remember several long weeks in March 2011 when they turned on the news every day and saw thick smoke billowing from nuclear reactors, carrying potentially deadly radiation into the environment.
First sentence from chapter one: Standing on Earth, it's difficult to appreciate its movement.
Premise/plot: I rarely rely on the jacket copy for summary, but the jacket copy is so precise that I just can't resist--this once--quoting liberally: "On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima triggering the nightmare scenario--a nuclear meltdown.
For six days, employees at the plant worked to contain the meltdown and disaster workers scoured the surrounding flooded area for survivors.
This book examines the science behind such a massive disaster and looks back at the people who experienced an unprecedented trifecta of destruction."
It focuses on the earthquake, the tsunami, and the nuclear meltdown. Through all three, the book quotes from survivors and eyewitnesses. All three subjects--earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear fission--are complex. Complex in a technical science-y way. The explanations are straightforward. The author seems to want to reach as wide an audience as possible. It is very science-y yet maintains a strong human interest perspective.
My thoughts: Science isn't my best subject. It would be a close call between science and maths as to which is my weakest. Yet for most of my life I've been drawn to documentaries that combine science and human interest. I find myself easily captivated by a diverse range of topics because of the way they are able to connect the technical science-y bits with true human interest. Such is the case with Meltdown. I found it an absorbing, compelling, intense read. I didn't want to put it down. I found it a suspenseful read.
One thing I found effective in keeping me turning the pages was how each chapter began with the status of the six reactors. From day 1 (March 11):
Reactor 1: Fully operational
Reactor 2: Fully operational
Reactor 3: Fully operational
Reactor 4: Shut down for inspection
Reactor 5: Shut down for inspection
Reactor 6: Shut down for inspection
The book also has generous back matter! The timeline is extensive. The glossary is HUGE. The bibliography and resources listed is large as well.
First sentence from chapter one: Standing on Earth, it's difficult to appreciate its movement.
Premise/plot: I rarely rely on the jacket copy for summary, but the jacket copy is so precise that I just can't resist--this once--quoting liberally: "On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima triggering the nightmare scenario--a nuclear meltdown.
For six days, employees at the plant worked to contain the meltdown and disaster workers scoured the surrounding flooded area for survivors.
This book examines the science behind such a massive disaster and looks back at the people who experienced an unprecedented trifecta of destruction."
It focuses on the earthquake, the tsunami, and the nuclear meltdown. Through all three, the book quotes from survivors and eyewitnesses. All three subjects--earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear fission--are complex. Complex in a technical science-y way. The explanations are straightforward. The author seems to want to reach as wide an audience as possible. It is very science-y yet maintains a strong human interest perspective.
My thoughts: Science isn't my best subject. It would be a close call between science and maths as to which is my weakest. Yet for most of my life I've been drawn to documentaries that combine science and human interest. I find myself easily captivated by a diverse range of topics because of the way they are able to connect the technical science-y bits with true human interest. Such is the case with Meltdown. I found it an absorbing, compelling, intense read. I didn't want to put it down. I found it a suspenseful read.
One thing I found effective in keeping me turning the pages was how each chapter began with the status of the six reactors. From day 1 (March 11):
Reactor 1: Fully operational
Reactor 2: Fully operational
Reactor 3: Fully operational
Reactor 4: Shut down for inspection
Reactor 5: Shut down for inspection
Reactor 6: Shut down for inspection
The book also has generous back matter! The timeline is extensive. The glossary is HUGE. The bibliography and resources listed is large as well.
August 1, 2021
I found this book to be incredibly educational. There is so much I didn't know about about the crises in Fukushima, nuclear power in general and how everything changed. Additionally, it was written in a way that holds your interest. I highly recommend reading Langeland's book.
November 2, 2020
Reviewed for professional publication.
May 8, 2021
This was so good, super readable, and full of compelling details. It reminded me a little of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats, partly because of the radiation/nuclear stuff, but also because of the way it puts individual faces onto a major disaster. It reads almost like a thriller or disaster movie, walking the reader through each stage of the crises with explanations about how things went wrong or what sciencey stuff you should know to understand what happened next. Even knowing a fair amount about the events, I still found myself learning. It was particularly interesting giventhe recent news about the waste water release.
This would be a great crossover read for an adult audience, and I think it could make a good book club pick. There's lots to discuss!
This would be a great crossover read for an adult audience, and I think it could make a good book club pick. There's lots to discuss!
December 15, 2022
Deirdre Langeland recounts for tween and teen readers what happened in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011 and the days immediately following as first a strong earthquake and then a tsunami led to serious problems at the nuclear power plant that further endangered the region.
Langeland does a good job of relaying the seriousness of these events and how deadly they were without going into unnecessary macabre details. The timeline is very clearly presented, and the author does an impeccable job of breaking down very complicated geological and nuclear science into terms middle graders can easily access. The book is detailed enough and engaging enough young adult readers should enjoy it too, especially given the recent history disaster topic.
Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. The numerous deaths are reported and the seriousness of the events is conveyed, but it doesn't go overboard. There are pictures but only of materials that were destroyed and people who were displaced.
Langeland does a good job of relaying the seriousness of these events and how deadly they were without going into unnecessary macabre details. The timeline is very clearly presented, and the author does an impeccable job of breaking down very complicated geological and nuclear science into terms middle graders can easily access. The book is detailed enough and engaging enough young adult readers should enjoy it too, especially given the recent history disaster topic.
Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. The numerous deaths are reported and the seriousness of the events is conveyed, but it doesn't go overboard. There are pictures but only of materials that were destroyed and people who were displaced.
October 14, 2020
On March 11th, 2011, life in Fukushima Prefecture (a “state” in the Japanese island of Honshu) changed forever. A magnitude 9.1 earthquake hit the region and was followed shortly afterward by a violent tsunami. These events were just the beginning of the destruction. Nature's forces destroyed nearly everything in their path- including the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The title of this book- Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima- is perfectly descriptive. The book doesn’t simply focus on the horrific prospect of nuclear catastrophe. It gets deep into the science; it describes the geologic forces that cause massive earthquakes and the tsunamis that can follow. The writing is clear; it is easy to understand, but it doesn’t over-simplify these explanations. Meltdown also included a straightforward explanation of nuclear fission that helps the reader to understand the exacting science of safely generating power at a nuclear plant. It also helps the reader to appreciate the redundant safeguards that exist in case something goes wrong.
Meltdown also includes many excellent color diagrams to illustrate the difficult concepts mentioned above. The pages feature candid photographs brief glimpses into Japanese life that help readers to realize the human toll of this disaster. The story of the Great Tohoku Earthquake is told in a timeline format; each chapter looks at the events that took place as the disaster unfolded. By the end of the book, it is impossible to deny the bravery of the workers at Fukushima Daiichi and to be thankful because the nuclear disaster could have been so much worse.
Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster is an excellent example of non-fiction writing. It includes a detailed timeline, a glossary, an extensive bibliography, and an index. This book needs to be in public and school libraries as it makes sense out of a complicated series of events. Wonderful!
Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
The title of this book- Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima- is perfectly descriptive. The book doesn’t simply focus on the horrific prospect of nuclear catastrophe. It gets deep into the science; it describes the geologic forces that cause massive earthquakes and the tsunamis that can follow. The writing is clear; it is easy to understand, but it doesn’t over-simplify these explanations. Meltdown also included a straightforward explanation of nuclear fission that helps the reader to understand the exacting science of safely generating power at a nuclear plant. It also helps the reader to appreciate the redundant safeguards that exist in case something goes wrong.
Meltdown also includes many excellent color diagrams to illustrate the difficult concepts mentioned above. The pages feature candid photographs brief glimpses into Japanese life that help readers to realize the human toll of this disaster. The story of the Great Tohoku Earthquake is told in a timeline format; each chapter looks at the events that took place as the disaster unfolded. By the end of the book, it is impossible to deny the bravery of the workers at Fukushima Daiichi and to be thankful because the nuclear disaster could have been so much worse.
Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster is an excellent example of non-fiction writing. It includes a detailed timeline, a glossary, an extensive bibliography, and an index. This book needs to be in public and school libraries as it makes sense out of a complicated series of events. Wonderful!
Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
November 27, 2021
This is a remarkably thorough and comprehensible approach to a combination of topics/concepts that can each confuse and boggle minds when taken separately. By using a day-at-a-time structure, and devoting full attention to the deep knowledge of each element in the disaster (tectonic science, consequent response from nature, and nuclear power generator operations) this is truly revealed as the perfect storm of horror in terms of human impact.
The selective and effective use of shots, charts, diagrams, labels, and sequentially connecting those concepts allows sophisticated readers to absorb massive amounts of information without becoming overwhelmed. The publisher suggests this could be useful for middle grades, and I can image some in that range whom I have taught finding it fascinating and readable, but overall this will work best with strong teens and even adults.
The selective and effective use of shots, charts, diagrams, labels, and sequentially connecting those concepts allows sophisticated readers to absorb massive amounts of information without becoming overwhelmed. The publisher suggests this could be useful for middle grades, and I can image some in that range whom I have taught finding it fascinating and readable, but overall this will work best with strong teens and even adults.
July 9, 2021
A thorough breakdown of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that happened at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan in 2011. I really liked that each chapter gave the update for all 6 nuclear reactors. Definitely for middle grade or higher. Science has never been my best subject, so I had to go through the technical parts very slowly. Like after watching the Chernobyl mini-series, after reading this book, I am shocked by how efficient yet how high the potential the disaster could be from nuclear power. For older I Survived fans who want more (technical) information about a disaster.
August 18, 2021
Do you want to know the full story of the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster? If you're 10 and up, I have found the book for you! Seriously, this book does an incredible job of telling the story of multiple disasters, including relevant historical facts and cultural facts about Japan. It includes a lot of science about earthquakes and tsunamis and nuclear reactions/nuclear safety. But it all holds your attention. It's scary, because disaster is scary, but it isn't overwhelmingly scary. This is an incredibly well done book on the topic that helped me, even though I remember the story unfolding before my eyes in the news.
October 8, 2021
Tense recounting of the 2011 earthquake/meltdown disaster, with a lot of details I was rather fuzzy on at the time. I remember the pictures of the cars and the flooding, but Langeland does a great job showing the tension and fear at the nuclear plant as they worked in hazardous conditions with limited information and less capabilities in a desperate and only partially successful attempt to stop a disaster. It was still a disaster but the team managed to limit how widespread it is.
I also appreciated the final chapter which compares the cost and dangers of nuclear plants to the alternatives, to show that the balance is not as easy as it might appear.
I also appreciated the final chapter which compares the cost and dangers of nuclear plants to the alternatives, to show that the balance is not as easy as it might appear.
April 18, 2021
I did not realize the long-lasting impacts of this disaster, which continue to affect Japan. Deirdre Langeland presents a well-researched and detailed story of the events in March 2011, and explains highly technical and scientific information as clearly as possible. This would be most accessible for adolescents and adults, but appropriate for interested middle schoolers, too. I wished there were some more photographs of some of the people involved, but I also understand that many of the workers wished to remain anonymous.
August 8, 2021
While this book was written for kids, I appreciated reading it myself and think it would probably be too intense for my own children. The explanations of earthquakes, tsunamis, radiation, and nuclear reactors were all clear and interesting. I have been curious about what happened at Fukushima but all the book aimed at adults that I have tried to read have felt too long meandering. I wish there was more discussion about the clean up and solutions to dealing with the aftermath of the disaster, but I guess that was outside of the scope of this book.
February 6, 2022
9.1 Earthquake followed by a tsunami from hell... Six nuclear reactors from the 1960s. Yep, it ain't gonna be pretty.
Reading this book showed me just how well Japan did with their nuclear disaster. It could have been far worse. An extremely disciplined workforce, that knew its stuff, significantly helped. Like Chernobyl and Idaho Falls, getting readings from inside the reactor was on of the major issues.
The book seemed balanced and reasonable in its approach.
This book is worth reading.
Reading this book showed me just how well Japan did with their nuclear disaster. It could have been far worse. An extremely disciplined workforce, that knew its stuff, significantly helped. Like Chernobyl and Idaho Falls, getting readings from inside the reactor was on of the major issues.
The book seemed balanced and reasonable in its approach.
This book is worth reading.
September 14, 2022
Informative, well organized take on the Japanese nuclear disaster that suffers from apparently being aimed at a younger audience. Shrinks back when it could more fully describe the human disaster and comes up short discussing the more technical aspects of the meltdown. Considering I won it as a Goodreads giveaway, I’m certainly not complaining. Likely would satisfy the appetites of most readers but I’m now looking for something morn in-depth. To it’s credit, this was interesting enough to spur me on.
May 31, 2021
A well-researched detailing of the Fukushima Daichi nuclear disaster following 311. The incredible horror of the earthquake and tsunami and the tens of thousands of lives lost is so hard to fathom. But what happened in the nuclear plant...and the incredibly brave workers who stayed to try and avoid catastrophe is unbelievable. The timeline lays it all out, and there are pages of resources to learn more. I just wish this story wasn't true...
July 14, 2021
Well-researched with an extensive list of resources, this was fascinating. This is perfect for kids (and adults!) wanting to know more about the disaster but without being overwhelming with the necessary science information to understand what happened and without being overwhelming with survivor's stories of heartbreak. It struck a good balance between both. The illustrations of the science and the actual pictures of the disaster were an excellent addition to the text.
May 17, 2021
This account of the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011 and led to the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant comes ten years after the disaster. While fascinating and extensively researched, it was disappointing that the photos and graphics were so small. I would have loved a larger format book with even more photographs.
January 25, 2022
This book does an excellent job of describing the earthquake, tsunami. and nuclear disaster which occurred in Fukushima. The book is very science focused, but is support by detailed explanations, graphs, photographs, a glossary, and an index. This resources help the reader to digest the content and helps to make a meaningful and insightful read.
August 10, 2022
This book was fascinating and shocking. If you want to understand what happened at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011, and you don't want a difficult, indepth read, then this is your book. Written in an engaging manner and mostly likely aimed at teen readers, it gives an excellent run down of the events surrounding the disasters on March 11, 2011. Highly recommend it.
January 20, 2023
Way too short and lacking narrative suspense. Does a good job of explaining scientific concepts if you're unfamiliar, which makes sense since the author writes children's books.
The best section is the tsunami intro where there are characters to follow. The rest is mostly summary with some quotes and for a disaster that unfolded over so much time, it's over before you know it.
The best section is the tsunami intro where there are characters to follow. The rest is mostly summary with some quotes and for a disaster that unfolded over so much time, it's over before you know it.
September 9, 2021
This book feels like a struggle to find the appropriate audience. It feels like it's written towards an 8th grade reading level as a textbook with a subject matter oscillating between too young and adult... Shame too, it'd have been enjoyable if it hadn't felt so condescending.
December 19, 2021
This is the first time I can honestly say I understand what happens in a nuclear reactor and how we use them to generate electricity. And how is it possible I was an adult before I heard the work tsunami and yet in Japan they have drills? So much we could learn.
February 2, 2023
This was a fascinating step-by-step account of the disaster at Fukushima. The details were such that anyone could read and understand the science, and I appreciated that. Many of the photographs left me speechless as well. All in all, it was a fabulous read that won't soon be forgotten.
October 3, 2023
A really good explanation of what happened. Each chapter explains either the scientific or functional principle of a nuclear reactor, then tells what happened on a specific day. Very helpful way to organize this type of a read. Very scary event.
June 13, 2021
Interesting, digestible and fairly written. The graphics help to explain the scientific concepts, which are, regardless, clearly presented in an approchable style.
June 17, 2021
So interesting. The material was well presented for the targeted age group. I love finding really interesting NF books to recommend to readers. This will definitely be one.
August 2, 2021
This is one of the saddest nonfiction books I've ever read, but incredibly fascinating
October 27, 2021
Good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2022
Very informative and eye opening
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews