Website Review: Rebuilding Haiti

REBUILDING HAITI is an interactive experience exploring the process of earthquake recovery.

This fascinating nonlinear experience asks users to make choices and learn more about the process of rebuilding Haiti after its devastating earthquake.

Divided into six sections, this informative website would be useful for informational reading activities across the curriculum. Woven into the narrative are photographs and sidebars containing additional information. Along the way, users must make decisions that have consequences.

Librarians will find this resource to provide a good starting point for discussions about the impact of natural disasters and the implications for planning.

To visit the website, go to http://apps.rue89.com/haiti/en/.

App Review: Earthquake

EARTHQUAKE by Nico Tranquilli is a free app providing the latest worldwide data about earthquake activity.

This attractive, well-designed app features a list of today’s seismic events along with an easy-to-use interactive map showing recent activity. The map makes it easy to zoom-in on areas of frequent activity. Students can select the magnitudes they wish to view including 2+, 3.5+, and 5+.

Each event includes it’s location, magnitude, depth, time, and coordinates. While much of the information comes directly from the USGS, other global services also contribute data.

Librarians will find this free app to be a useful addition to their app reference collection. Ask youth to compare recent earthquake activities to well-known faults and activities such as drilling. Incorporate this tool into meaningful, data literacy activities.

To download the app, go tohttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/earthquake/id632040358.

As an alternative to this app, go directly to the USGS Earthquake website athttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/ for current information.

App Review: Is that an Earthquake?

IS THAT AN EARTHQUAKE? is an engaging electronic picture book app for young children.

Part of the Ready to Read series from the New Zealand Ministry of Education, this appealing story helps young readers learn about what it’s like to experience an earthquake. The realistic illustrations and large, easy-to-read font is effective for beginning readers.

The book contains limited audio features including background music, narration that can be adjusted on/off and by speed, and the ability to record narration. Users can also enter paint mode to add color to each page.

Librarians will want to add this title to their collection of e-books for young readers. Place this electronic picture book in a display featuring both fiction and nonfiction books about earthquakes and safety.

To download the app, go to https://itunes.apple.com/…/is-that-earthquake-r…/id892584539.

App Review: Monster Guard: Prepare for Emergencies

MONSTER GUARD: PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES by the American Red Cross is an engaging middle grade app preparing youth for natural disasters and other types of emergencies.

Sponsored by Disney and reviewed by major government agencies, the app is both engaging and authoritative. This visually attractive educational simulation stresses the Learn-Practice-Share approach including the importance of learning how to stay safe in an emergency, practicing safety strategies, and sharing with friends and family.

Users work their a series of 14 fun training activities. Students can role-play as five different monster recruits, earn badges, and beat high scores as they learn about emergencies. Audio support and subtitles address the diverse needs of learners. The simulated training environments focus on the types of emergencies found in particular areas of the United States such as hurricanes in coastal areas and wildfires in dry regions.

Librarians will find this to be an excellent app for building both science and social studies curriculum connections. Extend the experience by creating a display of books associated with natural disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods.

To learn more, go to http://www.redcross.org/monsterguard.

Book Review: Hold Tight, Don't Let Go

HOLD TIGHT, DON’T LET GO by Laura Rose Wagner is an unforgettable young adult novel set in Port-au-Prince Haiti during and after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

The story begins with a chilling description of the Haiti earthquake through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old girl named Magdalie. As she searches through the rubble of her home, the stark aftermath of her collapsed world soon becomes clear. The chapters are named with months and years beginning with the earthquake on January 12, 2010 through 2011. The story concludes in January 2020, ten years after the disaster.

Wagner does a masterful job describing life for Magdalie including her frustration, resourcefulness, and hope. The author was working on an ethnographic study when she experienced the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Her experiences led to this compelling and realistic portrayal of Haitian culture.

While Magdalie’s experience with a vodou priestess and the funeral of her Manman may seem alien to readers, teens will empathize with her frustrations about lack of cell phone access and feelings of jealousy when her cousin leaves for America.

This beautifully written coming-of-age work of historical fiction would serve as an excellent focal point for a discussion of the human-impact of natural disasters. Consider building a literature circle containing books related to other recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

For background information, go to Encyclopedia Britannica at http://www.britannica.com/…/1659695/Haiti-earthquake-of-2010. Wikipedia also has an excellent article about the 2010 Haiti earthquake that provides background information for readers. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake.

Time Magazine also has an excellent series of articles. Go to http://content.time.com/…/…/packages/0,28757,1953379,00.html.

NetGalley ARC used for review