This is a fictional account based on factual data of the explosion of Mount St. Helens volcano that erupted in May of 1980. The story is a geologist's diary day-to-day leading up to the explosion and then also the aftermath.

I liked the short daily descriptions in first person format because it has a way of making readers feel like they are really witnessing the events. The anticipation of the explosion builds tremendously as the book goes along.

This book would be great to read to the class before discussing volcanoes and lava in science. As a class, we could build a science project showing a model volcano erupting. Another extension would be to have the children then write their observations of what they saw when the model erupted. We could then discuss how eruptions effect the environment. ( )