A well-researched, sharply written, engrossing account of natural and nuclear disaster.
Like Three Mile Island and Chernobyl before it, Fukushima is now synonymous with nuclear disaster.
On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast of its largest island, Honshu. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, triggering meltdowns in its three active reactors—though the damage was far less severe than Chernobyl’s, where radiation emissions were 10 times greater. Langeland’s narrative is impressively concise, with accessible explanations for such complicated technical subjects as plate tectonics, seismology, the fission process of nuclear power plants, radiation and radioactivity, the chain of events that led to the meltdown of the reactors, and the aftermath. The trifecta of catastrophic death and devastation is vividly depicted with well-chosen quotes from survivors recounting their experiences. In particular, the dramatic accounts of employees at the plant desperately working to contain the meltdown and of rescue workers scouring the devastation for survivors and evacuating whole communities are riveting. In the aftermath of the disaster, Japan reconsidered using nuclear fission for generating power, but Langeland notes that alternative fuels like coal and natural gas also adversely impact human health and the environment. Ten years after the disaster, the author warns, “it remains unclear how many people will suffer long-term from radiation exposure.”
A well-researched, sharply written, engrossing account of natural and nuclear disaster. (diagrams, maps, photos, timeline, glossary, notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-62672-700-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality.
An examination of the history of Chinese American experiences.
Blackburn opens with a note to readers about growing up feeling invisible as a multicultural, biracial Chinese American. She notes the tremendous diversity of Chinese American history and writes that this book is a starting point for learning more. The evenly paced narrative starts with the earliest recorded arrival of the Chinese in America in 1834. A teenage girl, whose real name is unknown, arrived in New York Harbor with the Carnes brothers, merchants who imported Chinese goods and put her on display “like an animal in a circus.” The author then examines shifting laws, U.S. and global political and economic climates, and changing societal attitudes. The book introduces the highlighted people—including Yee Ah Tye, Wong Kim Ark, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Vincent Chen—in relation to lawsuits or other transformative events; they also stand as examples for explaining concepts such as racial hierarchy and the model minority myth. Maps, photos, and documents are interspersed throughout. Chapters close with questions that encourage readers to think critically about systems of oppression, actively engage with the material, and draw connections to their own lives. Although the book covers a wide span of history, from the Gold Rush to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the Covid-19 pandemic, it thoroughly explains the various events. Blackburn doesn’t shy away from describing terrible setbacks, but she balances them with examples of solidarity and progress.
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality. (resources, bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567630
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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