ALA Booklist (Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

This slim but dense volume in the Monumental Milestones: Great Events of Modern Times series emerges from the author's personal trip to Indonesia after the December 26, 2004, catastrophe, where he witnessed the devastation firsthand and spoke to dozens of survivors. Primary-source accounts, many taken from Torres' own interviews, chillingly recreate the tsunami's initial strike, its chaotic aftermath, and the challenges of recovery. At times Torres' writing is emotional and uncontrolled, as when he imagines Indonesia as a phoenix rising from its own fiery ashes, and there are occasional editing errors. Even so, this warrants consideration for its basis in field research--something rare in series nonfiction--and for the true stories, which speak dramatically of struggling against water moving at the same speed as a jet plane and poignantly of human suffering and resilience. Sporadic photos and sidebars break up the text; end matter includes a time line, source citations for quotes, and an earnest author's note.

Horn Book (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2006)

A dry but informative text combines with unremarkable, poorly reproduced photos to present a disappointing account of the profound human loss and devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami. Though intended for the "not-so-enthusiastic reader," this title will struggle to hold the attention of even the assiduous report-driven reader. Reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-The strength of this work is the inclusion of survivors' stories based on personal interviews during the author's visit to Indonesia in January 2005. The accounts include a British girl who recognized the coming tsunami from her studies and warned her family; an Indonesian woman who lost her baby; a vacationing nurse who helped secure vaccinations and other medical supplies to show her appreciation for the people who saved her son from the water; and a woman who lost a total of 40 relatives, including 4 of her 6 children and her husband. "FYInfo" pages explain the factual side of the tsunami, U.S.-Muslim relations, the threat posed by the area's separatist movements, the delivery of water purifiers, and the risk of tsunamis in the United States. Color photos and graphics are often small. Still, the book excels for its depiction of the personal impact of the destruction, supplementing Gail B. Stewart's Catastrophe in Southern Asia: The Tsunami of 2004 (Gale, 2005), which is more thorough but less personal.-Jeffrey A. French, Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library, Willowick, OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.