Recommended Books

Fiction:

Messner, K. (2016). Race to the South Pole. Scholastic Inc.

In the fourth book of Kate Messner’s “Ranger in Time” book series, the time-traveling dog Ranger joins a rescue team to the South Pole, encountering a life-threatening blizzard along the way.

Osborne, M. P. (2001). Earthquake in the Early Morning (S. Murdocca, Illus.). Random House Books for Young Readers.

The magic tree house whisks siblings Jack and Annie back in time to San Francisco in 1906, where a terrifying earthquake strikes the city.

Karwoski, G. (2006). Quake! Disaster in San Francisco, 1906 (R. Papp, Illus.). Peachtree.

13-year-old immigrant Jacob Kaufman and his rescue dog frantically search through the rubble of a devastating earthquake to find his father and little sister.

Tarshis, L. (2013). I Survived: The Japanese Tsunami, 2011). Scholastic Inc.

It is 2011 and Ben, visiting Japan after the loss of his father, is swept away by a tsunami that strikes after an underwater volcano explosion. Ben is suddenly all alone in a foreign country and desperate to survive.

Tarshis, L. (2016). I Survived: The Earthquake of Mount St. Helens, 1980. Scholastic Inc.

It is 1980, and 11-year-old Jessie Marlowe finds herself running for her life when the majestic volcano Mount St. Helens in Washington suddenly explodes.

Nonfiction

Osborne, M. P., & Boyce, M. P. (2014). Magic Tree House Survival Guide (R. Papp, Illus.). Random House Books for Young Readers.

Jack and Annie give tips and advice to young readers on how to survive a number of natural disasters, including earthquakes, tornadoes, and flooding.

Simon, S. (2002). Super Storms. Chronicle Books.

This early reader book introduces younger students to the violence of weather systems by using straight forward text and photographs from disasters such as Hurricane Andrew and the 1993 East Coast Blizzard.

MacAuley, K. & Kalman, B. (2006). Changing Weather: Storms. Crabtree Publishing.

Using full-color photographs of extreme weather patterns from around the world, students are given an introduction to extreme weather patterns including hailstorms, lightning, and blizzards.

Grace, C. O. (2004). Forces of Nature: The Awesome Power of Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Tornadoes. National Geographic Society.

Through interviews, photographs, graphs, and research, National Geographic gives a student-friendly book that shows the power of mother nature and its impact on our world.

Barnard, B. (2003). Dangerous Planet: Natural Disasters That Changed History. Crown Publishers.

Bryn Barnard’s middle grade book describes events that changed the face of our planet, including the volcanic eruption that wiped out the Minoan civilization, and the blizzard that shaped the transportation industry in the East Cost of the United States.