Pop-Up Volcano! Book Review

Pop-Up Volcano!

By Fleur Daugey

Illustrated by Tom Vaillant

Paper engineering by Bernard Duisit

Translated from the French

Published August 4, 2020 by Thames and Hudson

Mom's Review

I absolutely loved Pop-Up Volcano. It's visually stunning – the neon orange stands out against the black like molten lava, with pop-ups on every other two-page spread. Readers will learn how, why, and where volcanos form. I already knew about the undersea ones, but did you know that there are volcanos on other planets? Readers will also learn about man's tenuous relationship with volcanos.  If you have a budding vulcanologist, this is a really cool book! I knew the basics about volcanoes to begin with, and I'm no expert now, but I certainly increased my knowledge and sparked my own desire to learn more. I'm smiling just thinking about reading Pop-Up Volcano! with T. I know I didn't retain half of what we read, and I can't wait to read it with him again. 

I recommend Pop-Up Volcano! to any but volcano experts (because it's an introduction). I would wager it would be a winner. Not sure why, but I wagered wrong on T. He wasn't super keen on it our first reading; he said it was boring, which I cannot wrap my head around. That said, he was excitedly spouting volcano facts to his dad later that evening. Hopefully that means that he liked it more than he said. I am waiting a few days before reading it again in hopes of a better reception. 

One question I usually ask T after reading non-fiction is, "What is the coolest thing you learned?" I'd like to answer that question myself:

The coolest thing that I learned is that scientists studying ice in Antartica were able to identify air bubbles from the year 1259. From those air bubbles, they determined that a volcanic eruption in Indonesia was the cause for poor harvests recorded by European monks in the Middle Ages. 

Son's Review

(Age: 5)

Did you know there are volcanos under water and even in space? There's a page that looks like a volcano in Japan!

I remember reading about that [Vesuvius], about Pliny in The Secrets of Vesuvius. Dad and I read about that!

Frozen volcanos? That can't be true! Wow-wee!

I learned that volcanos erupt in space and under the sea, but I didn't know it before.

I thought that it was a bit boring. The part that was boring was that you just got to learn, and it was really long.

I liked that it was a pop-up book.

Note: A review copy was provided by Thames and Hudson in exchange for an honest review.