I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980

“For more than 100 years, Mount St. Helens had been quiet, a beautiful mountain surrounded by forests. Hikers climbed its winding trails. Skiers raced down its snowy slopes. Children splashed in its crystal clear lakes. Except this peaceful mountain was not a mountain. It was a dangerous volcano, a deadly cone filled with molten rock and poisonous gases. And soon it would explode with the power of ten million tons of dynamite.”

By employing a series of concrete images, the author contrasts the outwardly peaceful appearance of Mount St. Helens with its dangerous interior. By using phrases such as “ten million tons of dynamite” to quantify the force of its eruption, she injects key educational moments in the midst of a fast-paced, action-packed story. Her initial description also introduces The Unpredictability of Nature and adds suspense by foreshadowing the mountain’s inevitable eruption.

“She watched in horror as the sky turned pitch-black. A blizzard of ash poured down, swirling up her nose and making it almost impossible to breathe. Hot rocks pelted her like bullets shooting down from the sky.”

This scene is told in medias res as Tarshis provides a brief glimpse of the novel’s climax before shifting backward in time to describe the events that lead to this moment. The vivid imagery captures the many hazards of being caught in the eruption zone, adding depth to the novel’s focus on maintaining one’s Courage in Times of Crisis.

“Looking across at the twins, Jess saw two matching buzz-cut heads, four identical green eyes, and about ten thousand freckles. When they were little, Jess would have done anything to look more like them. She’d blown out her birthday candles with a wish for green eyes instead of brown. She’d even drawn Magic Marker freckles onto her pale skin.”

This passage establishes Jess’s strong bond with her best friends, Eddie and Sam, by showing their long friendship and describing Jess’s early efforts to emulate them in every way. Jess’s adoration of the Rowan twins enhances the novel’s examination of The Power of Friendship and foreshadows their ability to help each other through the natural disaster that they are about to experience.