Will It Blow?: Become a Volcano Detective at Mount St. Helens

Elizabeth Rusch's Will It Blow packs loads of interesting detail into a trim paperback. Creatively structured as mystery cases to be solved by the reader, the story is readable on several levels: sidebars provide technical details, mystery cases serve as a review of the more in-depth chapter material. Each chapter and mystery case can be read independently, almost as a short story. Even the illustrations read like a comic-book style summary of major themes. Will It Blow is an engaging read for any budding scientist.

As an after school teacher with elementary school students, I find it can be very difficult to engage my students in anything academic. I have used Will It Blow? as the basis for a few of my classroom activities with great success. In the book, kids are challenged to solve the mysteries of Mount St. Helens' latest eruption by becoming "volcano detectives" themselves. The book's subject and approach inspires many different kinds of discussions with my students. We've talked about anything from local geography, history, and current eruption activity to volcano science and how the scientific method can be like detective work. The interviews with USGS scientists encouraged my fifth graders to think of how science works in the "real world" and the hands-on activities described in the book were fun for my second graders (though next time I'll be doing the "Soda Bottle Volcano" outdoors!). I find it to be just a great book for working with kids, for making them aware of the world in their backyard, and getting them excited about science.

FUN FILLED, EXCITING, AND INTERESTING. LEARN SCIENCE WHILE BEING A DETECTIVE. CREATIVE - ONE OF THE BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS.

Nicely enhanced with the colored artistry of K.E. Lewis, "Will It Blow?: Become A Volcano Detective At Mount St. Helens" by Elizabeth Rusch is an ideal introduction to vulcanism from students age 6 and older. While its been more than 25 years since the last eruption of Mount St Helena, it is still emitting steam and pushing up a wall of lava. "Will It Blow?" will enable children to understand the inner workings of a volcano and learn that science is a lot like detective work and become able to put together the 'clues' to determine the answer to such questions as whether or not the visitors that flock to view the volcano from five miles away at Johnston Ridge are in danger; could airplanes and helicopters flying over Mount St. Helena be in danger from having volcanic ash clog their engines; could the houses and cabins in the valley below the volcano be swept away? As engaging and entertaining as it is informed and informative, "Will It Blow?" is a perfect addition to elementary school science class curriculums and highly recommended for use by home-schooling parents.