Published :
February 9, 2021
From the publishers:
Deirdre Langeland's Meltdown explores for middle grade readers the harrowing story of the deadly earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown that caused the 2011 Fukushima power plant disaster.
On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima triggering the nightmare scenario--a nuclear meltdown.
For six days, employees at the plant worked to contain the meltdown and disaster workers scoured the surrounding flooded area for survivors.
This book examines the science behind such a massive disaster and looks back at the people who experienced an unprecedented trifecta of destruction.
My thoughts:
Although this seems like a recent current event, I realize that 2011 for middle grade readers is the difference between being in middle school and being in preschool.
Regardless, I devoured this genre-bending/multi-genre look at the trifecta of disasters started with an earthquake off of the coast of Fukushima and ending with the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. It has the perfect blend of understandable science, human story and science textbook style pictures that just add to the depth of this story.
What makes this non-fiction piece genre-bending is not the readability or the pictures, but the fiction tricks that Langeland uses. First, it starts with a simple Japanese woodblock inspired, red-sun rising graphic that just says "DAY 1". Each day (there are 6 of them) starts off with a date, a time and then
Reactor Status
Reactor 1: Fully operational
Reactor 2: Fully operational
Reactor 3: Fully operational
Reactor 4: Shut down for inspection
Reactor 5: Shut down for inspection
Reactor 6: Shut down for inspection
As the days go on, these reactor status reports just bring in the drama and urgency that makes this read devour worthy as things start literally "melting down." I can definitely see how this would be a great book talk for readers that prefer non-fiction, history, science, natural disasters, as well as the human factor. This is also a great discussion starter on Japanese culture and Japanese work culture evidenced by the decisions the plant managers made to stay on as well as the decisions they made since based on "disaster memory."
As the final nugget of hope in this disaster story, I appreciate the author including the little anecdote of the wind phone. It really is a beautiful gesture of peace.
*An advanced digital copy of this book was provided by the publisher and Net Galley. Accordingly, this post will come out no earlier than one month before publication.
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