Lorraine Jean Hopping • Hopping Fun Creations

My five WILD WEATHER and three WILD EARTH science books are high-interest topics for young readers (ages 6 to 8 or grades 2-4).

Wes Bennett is a veteran pilot who describes what it's like to fly an airplane through the center of a hurricane—again and again—to collect data. This data, along with satellite photos, help scientists track the huge, deadly storms as they spin across the Atlantic Ocean. Woven into the true-life tales of historical hurricanes is the basic science behind how these massive storms form, what fuels them, and why their destructive paths are tough to predict.

HURRICANES! is my personal favorite of the Wild Weather series and also the best seller at 500,000 copies.

Scientists chase storms all over Tornado Alley in the Midwest in the hopes of spotting and studying tornadoes. Sometimes, they get a little too close! Since the only defense against a tornado is to avoid it, these scientists hope to issue more timely and more accurate warnings to save lives.

I live in "tornado country" and have seen twisters (from afar, thankfully), so this book really hit home!

Bill Hark, a tornado chaser, says: "For very young children, I recommend "Tornadoes!" in the Wild Weather series (Hello Reader! Level 4 Science) by Lorraine Jean Hopping. It is an exciting book about scientific storm chasing, tornadoes and tornado safety. The book is very accurate for a children's science book yet very understandable. Many children's science books are sloppy and full of errors. Although listed as for grades 2 and 3 (ages 7 -9), many younger kids should also be able to enjoy the book."

After a major earthquake in Turkey, an 8-year-old boy is trapped alive in his family's collapsed apartment home. Three days later, he emerges alive, thanks to a hard-working American rescue crew.

Earthquakes are happening right now, as you read this, somewhere in the world. The Earth's broken crust is constantly shifting like cracked ice on water. Exactly when an earthquake will happen is impossible to predict accurately. But scientists have a pretty good idea of where and how they'll occur.

Dr. Lucy Jones, the seismologist in charge of earthquake monitoring in southern California, provides some great tips about what to do during an earthquake.

Scientists urge local officials to evacuate thousands of people living on top of Mt. Pinatubo, a Philippine volcano that's about to explode. The eruption turns out to be the biggest blast of the 20th century.

Predicting eruptions is a dangerous job; scientists have died while studying active volcanoes. But it's also a life–saving job. Millions of people live on or near active volcanoes.

Four boys from a small town in Minnesota sled down the slopes of a gravel pit and quickly find themselves buried in an avalanche of snow. One boy barely slips free, just in time to summon help and save his friends' lives.

Because buried victims usually survive for just minutes before suffocating, rescues by trained dogs, radio beacon, and avalanche rescue squads are fast—and dramatic.

Find out how and where avalanches happen and why they are so dangerous.

BLIZZARDS! begins with the incredible tale of two historic storms in one deadly year. In 1888, a warm winter day in the Plains states exploded into a blizzard, trapping schoolchildren, families, and farm animals. Two months later, a blizzard shut down the entire Northeast coast.

A scientist from the National Severe Storms Laboratory explains why blizzards aren't just big snow storms. Recent blizzard survival stories reveal the dangerous effects of cold on the human body.

I've "survived" blizzards myself, including the 1978 Blizzard of Kalamazoo, in warmth and safety indoors. Here's how you can, too.

While others take cover, scientist Maribeth Stolzenburg and her team seek out dangerous desert thunderstorms in order to release high–flying, data–collecting weather balloons. Another science team uses wires and rockets to trigger lightning strikes on purpose in the stormy skies over Florida. Cameras and other instruments can record these deliberate, split-second bolts more easily than natural ones.

Meanwhile, a teacher, a hiker, a park ranger and others survive lightning strikes, but suffer from heart problems, memory loss, and other injuries. This books explains how everyone can stay safe from this common and deadly danger.

RECOMMENDED BY SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: [Wild Weather: Lightning!] will whet the appetites of young scientists. Hopping introduces children to an amazing and deadly natural phenomenon. Many interesting facts about the study of lightning from the historical (Ben Franklin) to the modern (today's computer technology) are included as well as cultural connections (Zeus) and the experiences of people who have survived being struck by lightning. The watercolor illustrations include maps, diagrams, and action scenes.

AND ALSO BY EDUCATION WORLD: "The Wild Weather series presents a new addition, Lightning! (Cartwheel Books/Scholastic). It's a little volume that cracks with information and excitement! . . . The book opens with the story of Sherri Spain, a teacher from Memphis, Tennessee. Spain loved to watch thunderstorms -- until one day in 1989. A bolt of lightning struck a steel door near where Spain was standing. That lightning strike left Spain with some loss of sight and hearing. It drained the color from her dark hair, turning it white. Memory loss was another bad side effect for Spain, a history teacher who relied on her memory of facts. This story and others told by Hopping provide a testament to the power of lightning as they teach important lessons that all young readers should know.

Hopping doesn't slight the science of lightning. That's covered in detail too. The Wild Weather series would make a great addition to any primary grade classroom or school library."

In FLOODS!, a band of curious children, unaware of the danger, wander down to the local river to watch ice-jammed water steadily rise over the banks. As the frigid water begins to take over downtown Montpelier, Vermont, emergency workers have to clear the city—children included—fast!

FLOODS! also includes amazing survival and rescue tales of the famous Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi River floods. To learn the science behind flooding, I interviewed Kate White, an ice jam engineer who gingerly walks onto ice-covered rivers to measure and predict the flood danger and warn citizens when it's time to evacuate to high ground. The whole time she's standing out on the ice, Kate keeps a close and constant eye on her instruments, watching for any sign of fast-rising water, which means the ice is about to crack beneath her feet! More than once, she's had to rush to shore, retracing her path footstep by footstep to avoid falling through weak spots.