This entry in the Survival Stories series (6 titles) contains gripping true stories of people around the world who escaped the wrath of volcanoes. It opens with a detailed description of how volcanoes erupt and fast facts about the four featured stories: two people’s escape from a volcanic mudflow caused by Mount St. Helens, a man’s terrifying encounter with Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia, a man’s desperate attempts to aid others during a flight from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, and a family’s deadly ordeal with a volcano while on vacation in New Zealand. Captivating photos, a time line of a volcano, world maps with locations of volcanoes, an infographic of the inside of a volcano, and fascinating statistics will further engage readers with these tales of bravery, survival, and heartbreak.

With a focus on the human elements of real natural disasters, the authors incorporate scientific aspects of these events into the stories of people who experienced them. There are photographs of the events and an explanation of how they came to occur. The severity of each event is described through its respective measurement—from the Richter scale to categories of storms. Readers are given multiple stories within each title to explore diverse perspectives of events across time and place. This variety of experience allows for more understanding on that human cost of disasters and the impacts on survivors. VERDICT Fans of fiction series like ‘I Survived’ will love this nonfiction take on survival stories.