Washoe County Library System

Describes the nature and causes of volcanoes, ways to predict eruptions, ways that people have adapted to live around them, and some major eruptions in history.

Uses numerous activities and experiments to explain the forces and phenomena connected with earthquakes and volcanoes.

After the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano destroys his city and its surroundings, fifteen-year-old Alex must journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Illinois to find his parents and sister, trying to survive in a transformed landscape and a new society in which all the old rules of living have vanished.

"On May 8, 1902, Mont Pelee on the island of Martinique exploded. A deadly cloud of steam and ash churned through plantations and villages, flattened the grand city of St. Pierre, then thundered into the bay where it sank eighteen ships and hundreds of smaller craft. Within a minute or two, nearly thirty thousand humans died. The splintered rubble of their homes and belongings burned for three days, and the world began to understand the awesome power...

"A boy and a mouse trek to the top of a volcano, taking in soaring trees, lunar landscapes and snow capped peaks, then return to the ancient city at the bottom"--

Describes the destruction caused by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, the slow return of plant and animal life, and the special area set aside to study this renewal.