Wild Weather: Hurricanes!

Wild Weather: Hurricanes!

Written by: Lorraine Jean Hopping
Illustrated by: Jody Wheeler
Genre: Nonfiction
Grades: 2-5
Awards: None

This book discusses where hurricanes come from, what types there are, and what should be done during one. The book describes hurricanes by telling parts of a story about hurricane Hugo in 1989. The book says a storm tracker is someone that measure the size, temperature, and location of a hurricane. The book also describe the components of a hurricane, which includes the eye and the feeder bands, which is practically a long line of storm clouds. They also describe that the eye wall in a hurricane is where the winds spin the fastest and can even reach to 180 miles per hour. Once the storm trackers are inside the eye, they drop a box out of the plane that measures the temperature and various conditions within the storm. Reports from hurricane Hugo include that dozens of islanders of St. Croix in the Caribbean Sea lost their lives and thousands lost their homes. Four days later, on September 21, 1989, Hugo crashed into South Carolina with a 20 foot storm surge and winds of 150 miles per hour. All together, Hugo killed 504 people. 

The book also describes that hurricane season lasts from June to November. Hurricanes tend to last longer if the water temperature is above 81 degrees and the winds will spin faster. Hurricanes also don't follow the same route, as it can be a zigzag storm, going a completely different direction than what was predicted. The book ends with giving hurricane safety tips. These tips include, make sure flashlights and radios are in good working condition, that there is a stock of fresh drinking water, listen to the radio or TV for storm conditions and evacuation information, and lastly, when officials tell your family to clear out, do it.

I believe this book is essential and needed in classroom libraries. This book is best fitted for second to fifth graders. This book would be greatly used in science classrooms. The teacher can have their students read this book on their own, have students use this as a resource for an assignment or research paper. The teacher can also ask the students what facts did they gather from this book and write down their answers on a whiteboard.