Friday, December 2, 2011

Weekend Book Give-Away: Ashfall

When I was a little kid, we were on a family road trip when Mt. St. Helens went off. Because of the huge amount of ash dumped, we were unable to go back across the state to home for days. Last summer, I finally went and visited the volcano in person, and was totally awed by the amount of destruction still evident 30 years later.

Every now and then I hear rumors about how dangerous Mt. Rainier has the potential of being.  It is much bigger than St. Helens, and has a lot of people living in line of its mudflow.  But would two volcanos in one state go off in the lifetime of a human?  Seems doubtful to me, since geologic time moves so much slower than ours, so I try not to worry about it.

But then the new book by Mike Mullin, Ashfall came across my desk.  It is about what might happen if the supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park went off.  Supervolcano?!  According to the Discovery Channel's website this supervolcano is totally active, and if it went off it would be HUGE:

The last major eruption at Yellowstone, some 640,000 years ago, ejected 8,000 times the ash and lava of Mount St. Helens.  And that wasn't even the largest eruption in Yellowstone's prehistoric past.

Yikes!

Tell me about what potential natural disaster freaks you out the most, and how you have tried to prepare for it (or distracted yourself from thinking about it) and you could win not only a beautiful brand new hardcover of Ashfall, but a poster featuring Mike Mullen's Top 10 Tips for Surviving a Supervolcano!

Winner will be selected by my buddy Random Number Generator on Tuesday December 6, 2012.  Be sure to leave a name with your entry, and check back to see if you won. To win you must be a teen (6th-12th grade, or 12-18) who uses a Sno-Isle Library.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The earthquake that is way overdue in Washington or the radiation from the nucular power plants in Japan that is floating towards us over the ocen are two natural disasters i am afraid of though i dont constantly think about them. I prepare by learning more about them in science classes.

Noah said...

What natural disaster doesn't freak me out?! All of them are really scary, especially snce I'm super-paranoid!
I guess I'd have to say that the one that freaks me out the most would be an earthquake. I mean, we ARE on the Ring of Fire and all that, so it's possible that we could have a mega quake sometime soon. It's a really horrifying thought, I think. We've gathered some supplies (water, canned food, etc), but we still need to prepare a little more.

Ashtastic The Great said...

After reading Life As We Knew It, in the back of my mind I'm terrified the moon is going to be hit by an asteroid and all of that lovely stuff would happen. But a serious natural disaster fear that I have, is an earthquake, or anything really, breaks a powerline that causes a fire that burns my house (I have the irrational fear of my house catching on fire...housefirephobia) and I haven't done anything to prepare, and to not think of it I think of other things like books...but now I'm thinking about it and how unprepared we are...

-AC Marysville

Maddy E. said...

I've been really wanting to read this book!!!

The scariest natural diseaster for me would be a tsunami. The thought of seeing a wall of water coming towards me gives me nightmares. Also the fact that there is literally no way to prepare for this event is scary. It is comfort to know that we are in an area that tsunamis are rare, but still anything can happen.

Cyrus Commissariat said...

I would have to say the natural disaster that scares me most would have to be a Earthquake. The only reason I chose a earthquake is because we live in the part of the pacific northwest that the disaster that is most likely to occur is a earthquake. I would say that I have thought about a earthquake happening but I don't think I am prepared for one if it strikes when I am at my house. At my school we have a "survival kit" witch consists of food, water, flashlights, first aid material and fire starting material so hopefully I will be at school when the earthquake does strike!

Dawn said...

Random Number Generator picked...Willowtree Girl!

Sheesh...I had blocked out the radiation :( Yikes.

Sending your book to Jackie at Lynnwood!