Mountain of Fire: The Eruption and Survivors of Mount St. Helens

Ages 10 to 14

A middle-grade narrative nonfiction story of the violent volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, that tells the story of the people who died, those who survived, and the heroes who fought to raise an alarm.

For weeks, the ground around Mount St. Helens shuddered like a dynamite keg ready to explode. There were legends of previous eruptions: violent fire, treacherous floods, and heat that had scoured the area. But the shaking and swelling was unlike any volcano ever seen before. Day and night, scientists tried to piece together the mountain’s clues—yet nothing could prepare them for the destruction to come.

The long-dormant volcano seethed away, boiling rock far below the surface. Washington’s governor, Dixie Lee Ray, understood the despair that would follow from people being forced from their homes. How and when should she give orders to evacuate the area? And would that be enough to save the people from the eruption of Mount St. Helens?

About the Author

Rebecca E. F. Barone is an engineer and author. She has worked on technical projects as diverse as injury analysis for the NFL and engine calibration for hybrid cars. Realizing her love of books in addition to numbers, she now describes the world with words rather than equations. Her first two books, Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica and Unbreakable: The Spies Who Cracked the Nazis’ Secret Code, received a combined nine starred reviews and were featured on numerous “Best of” lists. She lives in Ohio with her family. rebeccaefbarone.com