The Seismic Seven

by Katie Slivensky

Overview

This action-packed, science-infused adventure from the critically acclaimed author of The Countdown Conspiracy follows a group of seven kids racing to save the world from a deadly supervolcano. Perfect for fans of Chris Grabenstein and Peter Lerangis.

Brianna Dobson has been chosen to work with world-renowned geologist Dr. Grier in Yellowstone National Park for the summer, and she couldn’t be more excited!

But then Dr. Grier tells her and the other kids on the project the real reason she’s invited them to Yellowstone: A massive supervolcano in the park is about to erupt—and if they can’t stop it, Earth will be plunged into an endless winter, and civilization will be destroyed.

Bri and her new friends are ready and willing to help stop the eruption, but unexpected dangers threaten to foil their efforts. Will the Seismic Seven be able to defy nature and save the world?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062463203
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Katie Slivensky has worked and volunteered at zoos and museums since age eleven. She grew up in Michigan and currently lives just outside of Boston. She is the author of The Seismic Seven and The Countdown Conspiracy. Find her online at www.katieslivensky.com.

Editorial Reviews

An engaging adventure with a high-stakes plot and a timely message about preserving the environment.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Slivensky masterfully blends geology and fantasy to create a provocative adventure. Even readers with little science background will be pulled into this riveting story.” — Booklist

From the Publisher

Slivensky masterfully blends geology and fantasy to create a provocative adventure. Even readers with little science background will be pulled into this riveting story.

Booklist

Slivensky masterfully blends geology and fantasy to create a provocative adventure. Even readers with little science background will be pulled into this riveting story.

Booklist

03/01/2018
Gr 4–7—Thirteen-year-old YouTuber and video gamer Brianna wins a chance to spend the summer working with a prominent geologist at Montana's Yellowstone. Along with three other contest winners, she believes she'll be studying seismic activity in the supervolcano beneath the park. After spending weeks cut off from contact with their families, drilling tunnels deep beneath the earth, the young teens discover their true mission. Geologist Dr. Samantha Grier and her park administrator sidekick are actually misanthropic maniacs out to destroy humanity in a last-ditch bid to head off climate change and allow Earth to recover from mass extinctions. Slivensky, a science educator with a background in paleoanthropology, brings attention to the natural process of regrowth after destruction, particularly in Brianna's meditation on the destruction to the park and to Yellowstone Lake. An author's note explains that, while the Yellowstone supervolcano is a real phenomenon, the science of triggering and stopping the eruption is wholly invented. Many readers will find key elements of the narrative preposterous, but the story includes enough whipsaw plot twists and over-the-top action to maintain engagement. VERDICT An intriguing and timely premise make this an unusual and intriguing selection, shortcomings aside. A secondary purchase for middle grade collections.—Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA

School Library Journal

2018-03-18
Seven kids are in for an explosive summer adventure that might be their last. Armed with her new video camera, Brianna, a 13-year-old white girl, sets off for a summer of research with a world-famous geologist in Yellowstone National Park. Scientists selected Bri and three other contest winners because of their projects on seismic and volcanic activity, but Bri never could have imagined they were chosen to save the world from a supervolcano eruption. Their situation goes from dangerous to dire when Bri and her new friends discover that the scientists they trusted have more sinister plans in mind. Plot twist after plot twist keeps the story moving at a fast pace until the end. In one, Raquel Soto and Eddie Fuentes, two Latinx kids they meet along the way, reveal they never entered any contest: The scientists kidnapped them from their home in Inglewood, California, because "it wouldn't draw attention" since they're "not exactly a couple of rich white kids from Picket-Fence-Ville." Whenever Raquel and Eddie speak in Spanish, the text is italicized. Filipino-American Wyatt also experiences discrimination because of his prosthetic leg, which becomes a point of tension among the kids. Biracial (black/white) Nolan and white Kenzie and Todd round out the cast. Despite Slivensky's treatment of identity as a source of conflict, environmental activism remains the dominant theme throughout the book.Overall, an engaging adventure with a high-stakes plot and a timely message about preserving the environment. (author's note, glossary) (Adventure. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews