Pompeii: Lost and Found (bk 1) (40 pgs)

Osborne, Mary Pope (2006). Pompeii: lost and found. Random House. New York

Summary:
This book tells the fascinating story of the explosion of Mount Vesuvius that buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. With vivid description the author starts at the beginning of the day and moves throughout the entire explosion. Mary Pope Osborne takes the reader on the journey through the deaths of some 20,000 people that lived in Pompeii. Of those people, archaeologists have only unearthed 2,000 people as well as some petrified and fossilized tools and food usings by the people of Pompeii.

Author: Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrator: Bonnie Christenson
Illustrations: Frescoes created by using pure pigment mixed with water painted that onto wet plaster of Paris and allowed to dry which permanently bonds the pigment painting to the wall. This gives the illustrations the aged look.
Access Features: The Making of Frescoes, Answers to the Found Items, Acknowledgements
Grade Level: 2-5
Book Design: Book is tall either to represent the height of Mt. Vesuvius of the height of walls that are used to create frescoes. End pages are frescoes in order to make them flow with the rest of the book. Illustrations are directly related to the text and take up all of the two page spread.
Writing Style: The author uses technical language throughout the book but spends time explaining what she is talking about. It is written with the expectation that children will have some background knowledge of volcanoes, how they erupt, and what the eruptions may look like. She also seems to expect the readers to know what archaeologists do. This would be a good resource after things have been taught.
Curriculum: Science, Social Studies
Classroom Use: This would be a good story to read when talking about volcanoes and how they can change the lay out of land in one eruption and how they erupt. It is a really good example of one that does not necessarily emit hot lava. It would also be a good resource to use when talking about ancient Rome. Until recently not many people knew about Pompeii's existance and there are still many that don't know a lot about it.
Standards: Social Studies-Standard 1: Culture; Standard 2: Time, Continuity, and Change; Standard 8: Science, Technology, and Society; Science-Physical Science, Earth and Space Science, History and Nature of Science
Awards: Texas Bluebonnet Award
Author's Credibility: Author thanks the people at Saint Michael's College and the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica for their help with this book. The Scuola is a graphic arts school that helped with instruction on making the frescoes. Saint Michael's helped the author with her research before she began writing her book although she does not give the name of the staff that helped her. She has also written other books about ancient Rome and Pompeii.
Related Texts: The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 by: Laurence Yep; Bodies from the Ash: Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii by: James M. Deem; Ancient Rome and Pompeii by: Mary Pope Osborne

Response:
This book was very interesting and I think the illustrations really made the text come alive. Osborne uses very simple language but also expects the reader to have the background knowledge needed to understand some of the technical terms. She tells the dramatic story so well that the reader can almost see the scene of havoc as it is happening.