Tsunami!: Death Wave Book

Discover how these huge, unpredictable walls of water form, how they travel, and what happens when they approach shore.

New Books for Young Readers

Students fascinated with high-impact natural events will dig into this fact-filled book on tsunamis, the devastating "harbor waves" caused by earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. Sorenson draws her readers into the book with a first chapter that graphically and dramatically describes what a town goes through during those short, intense hours when the series of powerful waves (up to 80 feet in height) hits the shoreline. "If you can see it, you can't outrun it." is the devastating truth of this terrible natural phenomenon. Sprinkled with photos, diagrams, drawings, and maps, the second and third chapters explain what, where, and why of tsunamis. Sorenson helps readers understand the concepts by frequently using analogies common to the experiences of young people-squeezing a balloon, Jello between two dinner plates, the layers in a M & M peanut candy. Chapter 4 talks about what scientists in different fields are doing to warn people around the world when they detect signs of an oncoming tsunami. A final chapter is a collection of legends and more current descriptions of specific tsunami that have happened around the world. The book contains a table of contents, glossary, and index. Short sentences may be intended to make the book more readable for less experienced readers.