Witness to Disaster: Volcanoes

Your world is about to change forever. Beneath your feet, a molten hell brews?and its boiling fury can no longer be contained within the Earth's thin crust.

A farmer's field in Mexico is about to become the birthplace of the 2,000-foot high volcano known as Paracutin. Volcanoes brings you the shocking first-person reports of those who have witnessed the violent rage of a volcanic eruption.

Why do volcanoes erupt? What strange, changed landscapes do they leave behind? How can scientists predict future volcanic activity? And where were the deadliest eruptions in history? Students will find all the answers in detailed chapters on the science and history of nature's most primordial phenomena.

Every young reader will respond to eyewitness accounts of landscapes suddenly alive with sulfuric gases, ashes spread across vast areas, and boiling hot lava consuming everything in its path. Prepare to be awestruck.

Judith and Dennis Fradin have published over 150 books for children. They have won many awards, including the 2004 SCBWI Golden Kite Honor book award for The Power of One: Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine. Their most recent National Geographic title 5,000 Miles to Freedom: Ellen and William Craft’s Flight from Slavery was named one of Chicago Public Library’s Best Books of the Year, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and received a Blue Ribbon from the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.