EARTH
"Spread out a map of the world. What you see on its depends on the kind of map you have. Does it show cities and countries? Mountains and valleys? Maybe weather patterns? The variety of features is so great that one map just can't handle it all. Earth is part of a nine-planet solar system within the Milky Way galaxy. Its size and location aren't very impressive. We inhabit the third planet. . . "

VOLCANOES
"Volcanoes are like sleeping giants. After years, even centuries, of rest, they awake. They erupt. Some powerful eruptions blow tops off mountains, flatten forests, and dam up rivers. Some eruptions have killed tens of thousands of people. A few have buried cities, while others have buried mountains. Some big eruptions have even changed the world's weather for years. Volcanoes also shape the earth.. . . "

ROCKS
"Rocks are famous for staying put. If something is as "solid as a rock," you assume that it's not going to change or go anywhere. However, in reality, rocks are always changing and on the move. Nature's constant recycling of them can be seen in mountains, rivers, oceans, volcanoes, canyons, and earthquakes. Rocks come in about one hundred varieties. There are also approximately 3,500 minerals. . . "

TORNADOES
"They've been called winds of death and nature's most terrifying spectacles. They've been labeled random killers and the most violent creatures of the atmosphere. They've been described as a huge elephant trunk searching for food . . . a delicate dance of ghosts . . . a monstrous, writhing snake biting the ground . . . the snapping of a bull whip . . . a giant column surrounded by silvery ribbons .. . . "

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

• Earthquake Alert! By Shilpa Jones, Crabtree Publishing Company, 2004.
• Shattering Earthquakes. By Louise A. Spilsbury, Heinemann, 2004.
• Earthquakes (Great Disasters). By Nancy Harris, Greenhaven Press , 2003.
• Earthquake! By Cynthia Pratt Nicolson, Kids Can Press, 2002.
• Earthquakes & Volcanoes (Readers Digest). By Lin Sutherland, Reader's Digest, 2003.

ADULT BOOKS

• Earthquakes in Human History : The Far-Reaching Effects of Seismic Disruptions. By Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, Princeton University Press, 2005.
• Earthquakes, Fifth Edition. By Bruce Bolt, W H Freeman & Co, 2003.
• Earthshaking Science : What We Know (and Don't Know) about Earthquakes. By Susan Elizabeth Hough, Princeton University Press, 2004.

WEBSITES

• FEMA: All About Earthquakes: www.fema.gov/kids/quake.htm
• U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program: earthquake.usgs.gov/
• Everything You Want to Know About Earthquakes: www.earthquakecountry.info/