Book Description
for Buried Alive! by Elaine Scott
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A book about survival and hope, creativity and ingenuity, describes the August 2010 mine collapse in Chile that trapped thirty-three miners deep beneath the ground, and the sixty-nine-day effort to rescue them. Elaine Scott moves back and forth between events below ground, where the miners worked out systems for physical and emotional survival, with what was happening above. The rescue effort involved everyone from experts in digging and drilling to NASA scientists, who were consulted on everything from ways to keep the miners physically and psychologically healthy to the design of the rescue suit they wore in the Phoenix tube that eventually brought them to the surface. Meanwhile, in Camp Hope, the makeshift community of miners’ families, a school was established for children, a clown helped keep spirits up, a baby was born. Fascinating in every dimension, this account balances the drama and tension of the human story with the intriguing technical details. Scott discusses her research and sources in an author’s note. (Age 11 and older)
CCBC Choices 2013. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2013. Used with permission.