Al Roker's Extreme Weather: Tornadoes, Typhoons, and Other Weather Phenomena
by Al Roker
HarperCollins (August 10, 2017)
Nonfiction * Science & Nature * Earth Science
Audience: Ages 8 to 12
IndieBound | WorldCat
Description from GoodReads:
New York Times bestselling author, award-winning meteorologist, and Today Show co-anchor Al Roker explores extreme weather phenomena in his first book for kids.
Dive deep into a world of fascinating weather with everyone’s favorite meteorologist, Al Roker!
With this mesmerizing book that covers a wide range of topics, readers will learn about the conditions that generate unique weather occurrences like red sprites, thundersnow, and fogsicles.
Surprising facts, colorful spreads, and captivating pictures will hook children and adults alike as they uncover the mysteries of extreme weather—some they never even knew existed!
Thoughts on the book:
When this book arrived in the mail, I had several thoughts run through my mind. First, how timely given that this has been the worst year for severe back to back topical cyclones (a.k.a, hurricanes when coming in from the Atlantic). Another thought was centered on the fact that the book featured the name of one of the most well known TV weather personalities, Al Roker.
At the beginning of the book, readers have a table of contents to guide them through the book. One of the things that I like about nonfiction is that often it can be read out of order. You can pick a topic and read about it and then move to another one. This out of page order reading can be very attractive to some readers. Interested in Landslides? Start on page 40. Interested in Droughts? Pop on over to p. 26. Given the news lately, I decided to start the book with Tropical Cyclones on page 22.
The book features a number of text features and photographs. There are chapter titles, captions, text boxes, highlighted vocabulary to name a few of the features. The well organized chapter layouts provide readers with a sense of predictability for how information will flow. And despite the somewhat straight-forward expository text, I can see students still finding a lot to explore in the book.
The book concludes with some facts about the most extreme weather events, glossary, and where to learn more. Overall, I found the book to be informative and will share this with teachers and students that I know.
Look for a copy of Al Roker's Extreme Weather at your local indie bookstore or community library.
Artwork by Sarah S. Brannen ©2017
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