Hurricanes!

Gr 2–4—Foreboding music accompanies the video version of Gail Gibbons's picture book. Swirling red arrows illustrate how warm air is sucked up from the Atlantic Ocean, creating an updraft that circulates, intensifies, and becomes a tremendous storm, with wind speeds ranging from 74 to 155 miles per hour. The video provides details on the five categories of hurricanes as measured on the Saffir-Simpson scale of wind speed. Compelling facts about how hurricanes are named, the motion of the storm (counterclockwise north of the equator and clockwise south), and the largest U.S. hurricanes are highlighted. The text explains how predictions and information are gathered from satellites and airplanes and used to make computer models. Tips on what to do if a hurricane is imminent and helpful websites are included. Gibbons's colorful illustrations humanize the material, showing people dealing with all aspects of these storms, from predicting to cleanup. Pouring rain and roiling waves offer animation, and sounds of the storm supply tension. Narrator Chris Lutkin's expressive delivery dramatizes the text.