Mountain of Fire: The Eruption and Survivors of Mount St. Helens
by Rebecca E. F. Barone
Intermediate, Middle School    Holt    192 pp.
5/24    9781250881656    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781250881649    $11.99

After months of unusual seismic activity, Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. The catastrophic results included a thick cloud of ash, debris, devastating mudslides and floods, and more than fifty deaths; the event permanently altered the mountain and the surrounding landscape in Washington State. In a dramatic narrative, Barone tracks the efforts of a devoted team of scientists to observe and record what was happening—and predict when, if ever, it might happen again. The volcano did, after all, have a history of periodic eruptions over the past several hundred years, which lived in the memory of the Indigenous inhabitants of the region. As the fateful day grew closer, the mountain increasingly drew visitors, creating a dilemma for public officials who wanted to discourage tourism but also provide some degree of freedom for residents and loggers. After the eruption, the book segues into wilderness survival as Barone follows various groups of campers trying to escape the aftermath, while the concluding chapters provide an update on Mount St. Helens today. Barone’s engaging narrative contains a wealth of detail and a large cast of characters, but the information is carefully organized into brief paragraphs and short chapters, propelling readers through a story with equal parts science, history, and action. The front matter includes a couple of maps and a list of characters, while an author’s note and bibliography are appended.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.