In December 1915, San Diego’s reservoirs were nearly empty, so the city turned to Charles Mallory Hatfield, whose skills at making rain were legendary.
Hatfield, who claimed no supernatural powers, had perfected a method of sending a concoction of evaporating chemicals into the atmosphere to make rain fall. The San Diego City Council contracted with Hatfield to fill the Morena Resevoir to overflowing, for which he would receive $10,000 if successful. A light drizzle quickly turned into torrents, resulting in flooded roads, washed-out bridges, burst dams, widespread property damage, and several fatalities. Blaming Hatfield for the disaster, the City Council refused to pay him. Hatfield was more than compensated for his lost fee by the publicity, and he continued his rainmaking work into the 1930s. When he died in 1958, Hatfield took his rainmaking chemical formula with him. His success in making rain remains a mystery. In this attractively designed and illustrated biography, Brimner offers a fascinating, well-timed portrait of an enigmatic character, providing contextualizing information and efficiently exploring the San Diego controversy. Readers will not find an explanation of how Hatfield acquired his knowledge of chemical processes or his methods of experimentation. The generously leaded text is set within wide margins and accompanied by copious archival illustrations; both decisions keep the relatively complex text accessible.
An engaging, intriguing story of a fascinating man. (author’s note, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59078-990-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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In 1977, the oil carrier Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into a formerly pristine Alaskan ocean inlet, killing millions of birds, animals, and fish. Despite a cleanup, crude oil is still there.
The Winters foretold the destructive powers of the atomic bomb allusively in The Secret Project (2017), leaving the actuality to the backmatter. They make no such accommodations to young audiences in this disturbing book. From the dark front cover, on which oily blobs conceal a seabird, to the rescuer’s sad face on the back, the mother-son team emphasizes the disaster. A relatively easy-to-read and poetically heightened text introduces the situation. Oil is pumped from the Earth “all day long, all night long, / day after day, year after year” in “what had been unspoiled land, home to Native people // and thousands of caribou.” The scale of extraction is huge: There’s “a giant pipeline” leading to “enormous ships.” Then, crash. Rivers of oil gush out over three full-bleed wordless pages. Subsequent scenes show rocks, seabirds, and sea otters covered with oil. Finally, 30 years later, animals have returned to a cheerful scene. “But if you lift a rock… // oil / seeps / up.” For an adult reader, this is heartbreaking. How much more difficult might this be for an animal-loving child?
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3077-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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An introduction to ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings. The authors begin with how archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut, then move back 3,000 years to the time of Thutmosis I, who built the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Finally they describe the building of the tomb of a later Pharaoh, Ramses II. The backward-forward narration is not always easy to follow, and the authors attribute emotions to the Pharaohs without citation. For example, “Thutmosis III was furious [with Hatshepsut]. He was especially annoyed that she planned to be buried in KV 20, the tomb of her father.” Since both these people lived 3,500 years ago, speculation on who was furious or annoyed should be used with extreme caution. And the tangled intrigue of Egyptian royalty is not easily sorted out in so brief a work. Throughout, though, there are spectacular photographs of ancient Egyptian artifacts, monuments, tomb paintings, jewels, and death masks that will appeal to young viewers. The photographs of the exposed mummies of Ramses II, King Tut, and Seti I are compelling. More useful for the hauntingly beautiful photos than the text. (brief bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7223-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL SCIENCES
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