Rating: Marginal
Houghton Mifflin, 2007, $17.00
ISBN: 978-0618734634
Age Level: 9-12
ISBN: 978-0618734634
Age Level: 9-12
Tsunami Warning is great--for needlessly scaring children. The illustrations are devastatingly beautiful as they depict extremely realistic scenes of destruction and near death. These pictures are so detailed that one wonders why real pictures of the disaster were not used instead. Additionally, the reader may struggle with exactly what this book is teaching us about: the science of tsunami warning systems, or the heroism of the Coast and Geodetic Society. Granted, there is nothing wrong with writing a story to celebrate some unsung hero, but why then should the book pretend to do otherwise? I question both the subject motive and the wisdom of making it in a picture book form, because I fear it will trick a younger reader who will later be rewarded with nightmares of these crashing death waves.
Reviewer: Monica Barrette, Orange Public Library
