Field Trip to Volcano Island

K-Gr 2–The journey to Volcano Island begins aboard the school bus helicopter. Wearing silver fire proximity suits with opaque face masks, the students and teacher exit the bus and begin their exploration of the island. They see geysers, boiling mud, and lava. One child lags behind as he picks the colorful flowers the group passes. After hiking to the rim of a huge crater, they see a lava vent way down at the bottom. Then disaster strikes! The flowers the child has picked get caught in a gust of wind and blown into the crater. Unbeknownst to the group, the child goes after the flowers and finds himself slipping and sliding all the way to the bottom. He cannot climb back up and when he turns around...SURPRISE!...lava monsters. They are friendly, but sad that the flower has turned to ash in their hands. As in the previous “Field Trip” stories, featuring a diverse range of kids and others, Hare’s impeccable illustrations tell a complete story. Text is not needed nor missed, and the result is a book that can live well beyond a prescribed age range. The careful observer will find plenty of fun details while fans of the previous books will recognize the child with the camera and the one with the sketchpad.