Natural Disasters

DK Eyewitness Books

by Claire Watts

This all-new addition to the Eyewitness Book series lets readers learns about and witness the amazing power of hurricanes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. Full color.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Reference

72 pages, Hardcover

Published March 20, 2006

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these eyewitness books. I know they are written for a younger audience but its just so cool to be able to see some of the history things I read about so much more clearly. Amazing pictures and I always learn something new. Highly recommended

[Hali Reese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part two of the students in my field placement are working on a Natural Disaster Unit right now. This book is one of the books found in my CT's "Unit Library". This book is classified as an informational text. Within this book, you can find information on all the different types of natural disasters (tornado, hurricane, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.) including personal stories from individuals who have gone through some of these disasters first hand. A lesson that this book could be used for is if students had to produce a weather forecast based on a natural disaster - they could use this book for facts about their natural disaster and some students could retell/act as the eyewitness account of the natural disaster. This book was a WOW book for me due to the fact that there was a lot of information that was accurate and useful while also being reasonable for a fifth grader to understand which can be a hard thing to balance understanding vs information provided.

[MK · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book explains the threat of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes, and floods that can cause significant damage to human life, animal and plant life, and cities.

Natural disasters have tremendous destructive power, and when a large earthquake and tsunami occur at the same time, entire cities can collapse and tens of thousands of people can die.

However, nature has no feelings of malice or goodwill. The structure of this universe continues to change at an incredible speed. We can't stay in the same state for a moment.

Therefore, we must coexist with the wonders of nature. Even when natural disasters occur, humans take measures to minimize damage. And even if misfortune happens, don't get attached to it and remember that we too live in the cosmos.

[None]

Hi

[Dane Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Natural Disasters
Author: Claire Watts
Grade Level Equivalent: 9
Guided Reading Level: Z
Writing Traits: The piece's content - Using the details. The details create pictures in the reader’s mind and are plentiful from beginning to end. The writer’s knowledge about and/or experience with the topic is evident through the use of accurate details, credible information, and believable anecdote.

"Natural Disasters" is an excellent book for engaging kids and adolescents in science.
The first part of the book covers natural disasters of by geological or meteorological causes, such as tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes. For each type, there are several pages devoted to teaching the scientific concepts necessary for understanding the disaster, such as seismic plates cause earthquakes. For many of each type of disaster, there is an example of a famous or recent occurrence (for example, Hurricane Katrina). Additionally, each type includes information about the length populations must go to recover from such a disaster. The second part of the book expands to discuss climate change, "unnatural disasters" (such as the thinning ozone layer and destruction of coral reefs), infectious diseases, and epidemics.

One of my favorite things about this book is the use of diagrams, illustrations, and photos. As someone who does not have a strong background in science, even I found many of the images helpful in better understanding some concepts.

This book provides an introductory lesson to many key scientific concepts. While I doubt I would ever use this book in its entirety in my classroom, it would be very useful to use portions of it when introducing students to units like geology or meterology.

[Dan Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the information presented in this book was fantastic. I was very impressed with the photographs of the disaster happening in action. This book discusses tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and avalanches. It also covers hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, fires, climate changes, unnatural disasters, diseases, epidemics, and future disasters. Each topic gets at least a two-page spread with basic information on that topic and six-eight color photographs, maps or diagrams showing, for example, what an avalanche in action looks like and its aftermath.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you have kids, teach kids, or have any influence in the local library this DK Eyewitness series is a must. it is easy to use, broken into kid size bites, and has very cool pictures. a perfect home reference collection for any household with children!

[Kim]

10 copies

[Jessica Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pictures and information in this book. I used this in a 4th grades classroom reading corner when studying earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides.