Natural Disasters
Teaching Resources Center, Joyner Library
A Selective Annotated Selective Bibliography
Titles in the Teaching Resources Center are cataloged with Dewey call numbers and are
preceded by Curric. Please ask someone at the Teaching Resources Service Desk if you
need any assistance.
Lexile
Score
Title Information
Call
Number
EASY
AD620L
Bauer, Marion Dane. A Mama for Owen. New York: Simon & Schuster for Young
Readers, 2007.
E
B3265M
When the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami separates a young African hippopotamus from his
mother, he finds a new snuggle partner in Mzee the giant tortoise. Based on a true story.
AD560L
Bildner, Phil. Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New
Orleans. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, LLC, 2015.
E
B491M
A man known as the "Trashcan Wizard" sings and dances his way through the French
Quarter in New Orleans, keeping his beloved city clean, until Hurricane Katrina's
devastation nearly causes him to lose his spirit.
AD820L
Danticat, Edwidge. Eight Days: A Story of Haiti. New York: Orchard Books, 2010.
E
D236E
Junior tells of the games he played in his mind during the eight days he was trapped in
his house after the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
AD740L
Jennings, Terry Catasús. Gopher to the Rescue! A Volcano Recovery Story. Mt.
Pleasant, SC: Sylvan Dell Pub., 2012.
When a volcano erupts, Gopher is among the few animals to survive but the tunnels that
he digs once the earth stops shaking help the mountain recover by providing shade and
soft soil for animals and plants to make a fresh start.
1
E
J448G
N/A
McKenzie, Precious. Disaster Day. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Educational Media,
2013.
E
M1996D
Lovey and Darling were not the best in flight school, but when a tornado approached
both were able to help their classmates by staying calm and following directions.
N/A
Mercier, Deirdre McLaughlin. Yesterday We Had a Hurricane = Ayer Tuvimos un
Huracán. Chesapeake Bay, VA: Bumble Bee, 2006.
E
M536Y
A story which explains what happens when there is a hurricane.
AD910L
Nolen, Jerdine. Thunder Rose. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, 2007.
E
N717T.A
Unusual from the day she is born, Thunder Rose performs all sorts of amazing feats,
including building fences, taming a stampeding herd of steers, capturing a gang of
rustlers, and turning aside a tornado.
580L
Perry, Phyllis J. Panda’s Earthquake Escape. Mount Pleasant, SC: Sylvan Dell
Publishing, 2010.
E
P42975P
A fictional story based on a real-life event, Pandas' earthquake escape describes the
adventures of a mother panda, LiLing, and her one-year old cub, Tengfei, as
they escape a panda reserve following an earthquake.
AD570L
Rocco, John. Blizzard. Los Angeles, CA: Disney/Hyperion, 2014.
E
R581BL
After a massive blizzard, a boy becomes a hero when he manages to walk to the local
store and bring supplies back to his neighborhood which has been snowed in for days.
AD850L
Rose, Caroline Starr. Over in the Wetlands: A Hurricane-on-the-Bayou Story. New
York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2015.
E
R72019O
Various wetland creatures, from alligators to egrets, enjoy what begins as a calm and
peaceful day in the bayou, then prepare for and endure a passing hurricane, and finally
settle in for a peaceful night.
480L
Uhlberg, Myron. A Storm Called Katrina. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree, 2011.
E
UH6S
When flood waters from broken levees submerge their New Orleans neighborhood in
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a young cornet player and his parents evacuate their
home and struggle to survive and stay together.
N/A
Watson, Jesse Joshua. Hope for Haiti. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010.
A young boy finds hope when he is given an old soccer ball to play with in the wake
2
E
W3345H
of Haiti's devastating earthquake.
FICTION
890L
Anderson, T. Neill. City of the Dead. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2013.
F
AN245C
The fate of Sam, Charlie, Alice, Daisy, and other Galvestonians hangs in the balance
as the flood waters rise during the great hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, in 1900.
HL590L
Burg, Ann E. Serafina’s Promise: A Novel in Verse. New York: Scholastic Press,
2013.
F
B91S
In a poor village outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Serafina works hard to help her
family, but dreams of going to school and becoming a doctor--then the earthquake hits
and Serafina must summon all her courage to find her father and still get medicine for
her sick baby brother as she promised.
490L
Dahl, Michael. The Twister Trap. Minneapolis, MN: Stone Arch Books, 2008.
F
D1375T
The Page Turners, two powerful books from the Library of Doom, have fallen
into the hands of an evil magician. He turns the books into two terrible tornadoes, to
destroy the Librarian. But when the twisters suddenly head toward a small
village, the Librarian must risk his life to stop them.
750L
Kehret, Peg. Escaping the Giant Wave. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for
Young Readers, 2013.
F
K261E
When an earthquake creates a tsunami while thirteen-year-old Kyle is babysitting his
sister during a family vacation at a Pacific Coast resort, he tries to save himself, his
sister, and a boy who has bullied him for years.
800L
Lake, Nick. In Darkness. New York: Bloomsbury, 2012.
F
L1487I
In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, fifteen-year-old Shorty, a poor gang member
from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a ruined hospital, and as he
grows weaker he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister,
and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in the 1804.
690L
Lloyd, Saci. The Carbon Diaries 2017. New York: Holiday House, 2010. (Sequel to
The Carbon Diaries 2015)
In 2017, two years after England introduces carbon dioxide rationing to combat climatic
change, eighteen-year-old Laura chronicles her first year at a London university as
natural disasters and political upheaval disrupt her studies.
3
F
L778CA
750L
Mullin, Mike. Ashfall. Terra Haute, IN: Tanglewood, 2011.
F
M9176A
After the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano destroys his city and its
surroundings, fifteen-year-old Alex must journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Illinois to
find his parents and sister, trying to survive in a transformed landscape and a new
society in which all the old rules of living have vanished.
HL700L
de la Peña, Matt. The Living. New York: Delacorte Press, 2013.
F
P3706L
After an earthquake destroys California and a tsunami wrecks the luxury cruise ship
where he is a summer employee, high schooler Shy confronts another deadly surprise.
770L
Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life As We Knew It. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2006.
F
P475L
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to
survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and
volcanic eruptions.
HL470L
Rhodes, Jewell Parker. Ninth Ward. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010.
F
R3467N
In New Orleans' Ninth Ward, twelve-year-old Lanesha, who can see spirits, and her
adopted grandmother have no choice but to stay and weather the storm as Hurricane
Katrina bears down upon them.
570L
Smith, Tamara Ellis. Another Kind of Hurricane. New York: Schwartz & Wade
Books, 2015.
F
SM672A
The world, itself, seems to bring together Henry, whose best friend died near their home
in the mountains of Vermont, and Zavion, who lost his home in Hurricane Katrina, so
that the boys can help each other heal.
N/A
Wagner, Laura Rose. Hold Tight, Don’t Let Go: A Novel of Haiti. New York:
Amulet Books, 2015.
F
W1255H
In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Nadine goes to live with her father in
Miami while her cousin Magdalie, raised as her sister, remains behind in a refugee
camp, dreaming of joining Nadine but wondering if she must accept that her life and
future are in Port-au-Prince.
NONFICTION
NC850L
Burgan, Michael. Surviving Earthquakes. Chicago, IL: Raintree, 2012.
4
363.34
B91S
Presents a history of earthquakes, profiles child survivors and their later successes, and
highlights organizations that have helped victims.
NC850L
Hunter, Nick. Disaster Relief. Chicago, IL: Raintree, 2012.
363.34
H918D
Discusses what disaster relief workers do during and after a disaster.
N/A
Lüsted, Marcia Amidon. Natural Disasters. Edina, MN: ABDO Publishing
Company, 2011.
363.34
L9764N
Introduces natural disasters, from volcanic eruptions to tsunamis, discusses how
scientists came to predict them, and describes how to prepare for evacuation and
survival.
NC840L
Raum, Elizabeth. Surviving Floods. Chicago, IL: Raintree, 2012. (Other titles by
author: Surviving Hurricanes and Surviving Tornadoes)
363.34
R192SUF
Presents information on historic floods in history, from the deadly flood in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, to modern floods in the southern United States and Bangladesh, and
describes some measures to prevent damage during floods.
930L
Tarshis, Lauren. I Survived True Stories: Five Epic Disasters. New York: Scholastic
Press, 2014.
363.34
T177I
From the author of the New York Times-bestselling I Survived series come five
harrowing true stories of survival, featuring real kids in the midst of epic disasters.
From a group of students surviving the 9.0 earthquake that set off a historic tsunami in
Japan, to a boy nearly frozen on the prairie in 1888, these unforgettable kids lived to tell
tales of unimaginable destruction -- and, against all odds, survival.
NC900L
Cunningham, Kevin. Surviving Droughts and Famines. Chicago, IL: Raintree,
2012. (Also by author: Surviving Tsunamis)
363.8
C9175M
Examines drought and famine around the world, citing such famous examples as the
Dust Bowl and Australia's "Big Dry."
570L
Schuh, Mari C. Avalanches. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2010.
551.57
SCH79A
Describes avalanches, how they occur, and the damage they cause.
1080L
Guiberson, Brenda Z. Disasters: Natural and Man-Made Catastrophes Through the
Centuries. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2010.
Natural and man-made disasters have the power to destroy thousands of lives very
quickly. Both as they unfold and in the aftermath, these forces of nature astonish the
rest of the world with their incredible devastation and magnitude.
5
904
G9409D
PROFESSIONAL
Oehlberg, Barbara. Making it Better: Activities for Children Living in a Stressful
World. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press, 2014.
Last Updated July 2016 ES
6
372.146
OE5M