Eye of the Storm

July 1, 2005
Gr 1-4 -The most useful part of these titles is the list of safety rules that appears at the end. Unfortunately, the texts are confusing and information is sometimes missing between sentences. For example, "Storm" states, -The water rises into the air as vapor, - and the next sentence says, -Rain clouds quickly become tropical thunderstorms. - Children may not realize that the rising vapor forms clouds. "Rising Waters", which discusses the formation of floods and the damage floods produce, is the clearest of the trio. The most confusing entry is "Twisters", which discusses updrafts, downdrafts, and thunderstorms in a jumble as twisty as a tornado. The vocabulary in each book is simple, and the print is fairly large, with only several sentences to a page. However, youngsters usually prefer photos and may not be satisfied with the digitally produced illustrations, although the shapes are bold and the colors are bright. The specified Web site acts as a search engine to appropriate links. Melvin and Gilda Berger's "Do Tornadoes Really Twist?" (Scholastic, 2000) discusses hurricanes and tornadoes in a better-organized, question-and-answer format and gives a great deal of information using easy vocabulary." -Lynda Ritterman, Atco Elementary School, Waterford, NJ"

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