cover image Tsunami Warning

Tsunami Warning

Taylor Morrison, . . Houghton/Lorraine, $17 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-618-73463-4

M orrison (Wildfire) tackles another topic in the science arena with this wide-ranging story of how tsunami warning systems came into being. His well-researched, chronological account also looks at the causes and aftermath of these giant waves, as gray-hued illustrations powerfully convey their destructive force. The introductory spread about recent Indian Ocean tsunamis shows people running from or being engulfed by a giant wave as cars get tossed and telephone poles are uprooted. The narrative then travels back to a 1946 earthquake off Alaska. Tsunamis spawned by that temblor wreaked havoc in Hawaii, spurring “a massive collaborative effort of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, ingenious scientists, and even the Pentagon” to create a warning system. Spot and panel illustrations, diagrams and lengthy chunks of text work in concert to relate the history of its development. While some sidebar information tends toward the obscure (terms like P and S waves and triangulation are used but left undefined; the mechanical workings of seismometers and tidal gauges are detailed), Morrison's pictures help fill in the gaps. Brief survivor accounts can seem out of place amid the technical, more expository tone of most of the book, but it's the personal tales and other anecdotes (“Many Hawaiians didn't believe the warnings about giant waves because it was April Fool's Day”) that will sustain the interest of younger audiences. All ages. (Apr.)