Title: The Earthshaking Earthquake Mystery! (Masters of Disasters)
Review: This series of books is perfect for a little scientist or future scientist. My son never sits still during our nightly read but as soon as I started to read The Earthshaking Earthquake Mystery he never moved an inch. The book is written towards 8 year olds in that it highlights certain scientific words which can be found at end of the book under the glossary.
The book has three main characters: the mad scientist father, Artemis Masters, and this two children Curie Masters, 12, and Nicolas Copernicus Masters, 8, and they are all brilliant. The book takes the family on an adventure across the United States to many of the major sites for seismic activity. Yellowstone, San Fransisco, New Madrid Mo and many other sites in the USA. The adventure starts off with someone trying to steal Artemis' earthquake detector and the kids trying to solve the mystery before the Master Motion Detector is stolen. The interaction between the two kids is really fun. It is your typical brother sister relationship which makes it easier for kids to identify with. When the brother and sister fight my son was like "Yup Roxie (3) and I act like that too."
The book surprised me because the author created cliff hangers at the end of each chapter keeping the reader going until the book is finished. The book does have some illustrations making it fun for younger kids to look at while someone is reading to them.
At the end of the book the author created a section called Book Club Talk About It, Book Club Bring It To Life, Earthshaking Earthquake Trivia, Glossary, and Tech Connects. Each section brings the topic of the book to life. In the Book Bub section questions are asked to make the child think. For example, Why do you think more earthquakes happen in the western parts of the country? The next section has the readers try out some of the the experiments the Master family performs for themselves or helps them create an Earthquake Survival Kit. I enjoyed the trivia as an adult because I learned so many new things about earthquakes like "moonshakes".
Moonshakes are earthquakes on the moon but they are smaller and aren't nearly as frequent. My son enjoyed the last section the most because he was able to get on the computer and enjoy the online experience.
I highly recommend this book and the series of book written by Carole Marsh. In the famous words of my 5 year old son "That book was awesome!! When are you going to order the next book about Volcanoes?"
Thank you Heidi for this fun book review.
Thank you Heidi for this fun book review.
Publisher: Published August 1st 2007 by Gallopade International
Copyright: 2007
Pages: 118
ISBN: 9780635063397
Quick Review: 5 Stars out of 5.
Where Did I Read the Book: My 5 year old son wanted to pick out a souvenir at the Natural History Museum and this is what he picked.
Synopsis: What do a brother and sister do when their mad scientist dad takes them along the San Andreas Fault and other earthquake prone places? They are there for the "Big One" of course Earthshaking adventure leads them to learn all about the famous earthquakes of the past and how we might predict them in the future. Winner of the 2007 iParenting Award Join this brother and sister team as they accompany their scientist dad on hair raising adventures. Children ages 7-14 will be thrilled as the characters try to save the day. The kids also learn a lot about science. What child can resist learning about the power of mother-nature and the tools to stay safe as these interested kids confront nature head-on
Each mystery incorporates history, geography, culture and cliffhanger chapters that keep kids begging for more Each mystery includes SAT words, educational facts, fun and humor, built-in book club and activities. Each Carole Marsh Mystery also has an Accelerated Reader quiz, a Lexile Level, and a Fountas & Pinnell guided reading level.
Author Biography: Carole Marsh is a children's author and the founder of Gallopade International, a children’s book publishing company headquartered in Peachtree City, GA. Marsh writes mystery fiction in addition to works of non-fiction for children. Initially she self-published under the imprint Gallopade Publishing Group, which she founded in 1979; today Gallopade International is a major small publisher based in Peachtree City, Georgia.
In 2007 Marsh received the Georgia Author of the Year award for her contributions to children's literature and to the state of Georgia over the past twenty-seven years.
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