This guide offers insight into the causes and effects of volcanoes and earthquakes. The first half of the book introduces the general science concepts behind the events, explaining how and why they happen, while the second half focuses on historical examples. Though the information throughout is scattered, double-page spreads contain vivid illustrations and well-captioned explanatory details. Glos., ind.

Gr 4-7-This comprehensive work covers pertinent science and lore in a logical progression of explanations, illustrations, statistics, and fascinating tidbits. The heavily illustrated chapters are divided into two sections. "Introducing" contains chapters on plate tectonics; volcanoes and volcanologists; and earthquakes (preparations and aftermath), tsunamis, and seismologists. "In Focus" describes particular disasters of both types, including those standard to works such as these (Vesuvius, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake) and lesser-known calamities (the Toba, Sumatra volcano 73,500 years ago; the Lisbon earthquake of 1755). One of the chapters in this section is dedicated to the 2004 tsunami, and the information listed makes it clear to students that it was far from unique. The plate-tectonics discussion contains a full-spread diagram showing a hypothetical cutaway of the Earth's crust, illustrating how the different types of plates and margins interact to produce earthquakes, volcanoes, and other formations. Elsewhere, explanations of this interaction are often only accomplished in lengthy textual descriptions. Some illustrations (even those showing modern events) are odd Second Life-like re-creations, but overall, the book's high-quality maps and graphs and well-written and arranged text make this a worthy purchase. Compared to Anna Claybourne's Volcanoes (Kingfisher, 2007), Rubin opens more logically with an explanation of plate tectonics, and includes extra data. However, Judy Fradin and Dennis Fradin's Volcanoes (National Geographic, 2007) has stunning photographs and eyewitness accounts.-Henrietta Thornton-Verma, School Library Journal Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.