Top 10 Worst Earthquakes

Gr 4–8—Before presenting specific disasters, each volume devotes several pages to general information. Topics include how scientists predict and monitor occurrences, what causes disasters, and how they develop. Then the books provide two-page overviews of each top 10 example. Photos plus a map noting the disaster's location accompany an event summary, in addition to fact balloons with statistics on deaths, injuries, and property destruction. The accounts go beyond immediate impacts to consider how losses of homes, crops, and livestock affect communities for years. Social costs, such as the way the African American population was mistreated in Greenville, MI, during the 1927 flood, are included. Months-long effects of major volcanic eruptions on worldwide temperatures are noted. A spread plotting all 10 examples plus thought-provoking discussion questions round out each volume.