Although many may remember where they were when it happened, how many people can write about the Mount St Helens eruption firsthand? The author takes full advantage of having been there and describes the experience in this exciting children's book. Young readers and adults alike are reminded of innocence lost. Gone forever are the days when an imminent explosion doens't make the news cycle 24/7. There was a naïveté then—shock and awe, so to speak—when the mountain erupted.

League describes the strange cloud-like puffs and then the darkness of the thicker ash clouds, and finally, the dawning that the nearby mountain was erupting. She writes of the aftermath of the explosion vividly: “The ash is covering everything like snow, but snow makes it lighter and brighter outside. This ash is making everything darker!" While specific and haunting, the narrative also describes the times (1980) when a natural weather event wasn't immediately on the Internet. For example, League writes about visiting her parents near Yakima, Washington, when Mount St. Helens first erupted. “Let’s look in the encyclopedia and see what we can learn about volcanoes,” said Mom.

This book is a riveting blow-by-blow account, but it also explains the natural science experiment of regrowth that resulted from the unique volcanic eruption. Perhaps reading about it will inspire the next generation of population biologists or, at the very least, inspire a family field trip. Every elementary and middle school library should have this book. Children will not only have so many questions about the eruption itself but also about the days before cell phone photographs, streaming services, and the Internet. This intriguing look back at a significant event of the twentieth century educates its audience on more than one front.

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