Disasters by the Numbers: A Book of Infographics

by Steve Jenkins

A look at Earth’s natural disasters as seen through numbers, facts, and infographics.

From Steve Jenkins comes an in-depth look at the world's natural disasters, broken down into four distinct categories: earth, weather, life, and space. From timelines of causes and outcomes of each disaster, graphs highlighting humans' effect on the earth, and a text teeming with information.

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Science, Middle Grade, Childrens, History

48 pages, Hardcover

Published October 26, 2021

About the author

Steve was born in 1952 in Hickory, North Carolina. His father, who would become a physics professor and astronomer (and recently his co-author on a book about the Solar System), was in the military and, later, working on science degrees at several different universities. We moved often. Steve lived in North Carolina, Panama, Virginia, Kansas, and Colorado. Wherever he lived, he kept a menagerie of lizards, turtles, spiders, and other animals, collected rocks and fossils, and blew things up in his small chemistry lab.

Because he moved often, Steve didn't have a large group of friends, and he spent a lot of time with books. His parents read to him until he could read himself, and he became an obsessive reader.

His interest in science led me to believe that I'd be a scientist himself. At the last minute, he chose instead to go to art school in North Carolina, where he studied graphic design. After graduation he moved to New York City, where he worked in advertising and design, first in large firms and then with his wife, Robin Page, in their own small graphic design firm. Robin, also an author and illustrator, is his frequent collaborator — they've made sixteen children's books together.

Their daughter Page was born in 1986 and our son, Alec, two years later. They began reading to them when they were just a few months old, and Steve became interested in making children's books himself. My wife and I read to our two older children almost every night until hisdaughter was 12 or 13, long after they were reading on their own. It was, in many ways, the best part of the day.

In 1994 they moved to from New York City to Boulder, Colorado, where they work in a studio attached to their house, which was built in the 1880s and often functions as if it were still the 19th century.

Their youngest son, Jamie, was born in 1998. The questions his children asked over the years have been the inspiration for many of their books.

Librarian's Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for books on hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, blizzards and other disasters, this is the book for you. Along with infographics, this book is full of facts.

[Angie K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered , by Steve Jenkins, on Dr. Quiroa's Wakelet page for nonfiction books. I found the link from NSTA's recommended and award-winning booklist for 2022. Steve Jenkins is a Caldecott award-winning author. As I read his bio, I discovered that although he was on course to become a scientist and always very interested in science, as he was greatly influenced by his father, who was a physicist and astronomer, he changed his mind at the last minute and enrolled in a graphic design program. The result has become the creation of brightly illustrated science books that are very engaging, especially for young or struggling readers. I was motivated to check this book out because I was thinking of students I've had in the past who are in the 3rd and 4th grades who are struggling readers but fascinated by natural disasters so that this book would appeal to them.

I read this book on my Kindle and was disappointed that even when I enlarged the picture, the font was incredibly tiny and difficult to read. Nonetheless, I could still capture the meaning from the illustrations as they were engaging and so informative because they were incredibly detailed and appeared very realistic.

If you are looking for a book to appeal to upper elementary or middle school students for science content (i.e., plate tectonics, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, thunderstorms, blizzards, drought, climate change, etc), look no further! I could teach this book in cooperative groups, where each group takes one of the natural disasters and creates a creative presentation to teach the rest of the class. These visuals will inspire kids to create something informative and visually appealing for their classmates. For younger students, you can use a simpler format and collect their pieces to create a class book.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The infographics series is an informative "where's Waldo?" kind of hunt for cool factoids- this one about disasters like floods and hurricanes, volcanoes and the "big bang".

I learned that in terms of earthquakes, the San Francisco was unfortunately insignificant compared to others that have occurred in history. And then there were visuals about the power of a hurricane and what kind of destruction occurs based on the level. Each page unlocks fascinating details that the middle grade audience would eat up.

This kind of browsable nonfiction is awesome.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

My students and staff want more books about disasters and weather, so I have to add this one! Steve Jenkins is a master of helping students understand very difficult subjects with his infographics and this one is possibly the best of all of them. I love the size of this book, it is bigger than the other infographics by Jenkins that I have in my collection. This one is set up the same way with incredible understanding and facts from a 2 page spread. The glossary is exactly what we are looking for and I am so grateful to have found this book by one of my favorite non-fiction authors!

[Ilse O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Jenkins has always created informative books with clear, accessible facts about our world. This is one of his most comprehensive, packed with historical and scientific facts, but he still manages to maintain a clarity and accessibility that helps readers digest and process information in relatable ways — comparisons, explanations, and myriad creative infographics. Highly recommend for all ages.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Jenkins’ fascinating introduction to natural disasters, including earthquakes, blizzards, locust plagues, pandemics, asteroid impacts, and climate change, is organized into four categories: Earth, Weather, Life, and Space. One-to-four-page entries feature an introductory paragraph and a wealth of information explained with infographics (maps, charts, graphs, and accessible explanatory text). (Gr 3 Up)

[T Crockett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see this book being loved by the same people who enjoy Guinness Book of World Records. It is also a treasure for anyone teaching science (and possibly math) at the elementary school level. Beautiful layouts with collage images and chock full of information. I'm eager to check out the rest of the series.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think of this book as a book of infographics, although there are some infographics in the book.

There is lots of information on various types of disasters: earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis, hurricanes/typhoons/cyclones, floods and flash floods, landslides and avalanches, plagues, insects, etc.

[Mary Tumbleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of really good scientific facts and interesting information. The information is displayed in fun ways and is very clear. This would be a great book to have in my future classroom library for students to learn about natural disasters.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, but terrifying.