This chapter book is a level M/N and it's meant for 1st-3rd graders. It is a great way to introduce students to natural disasters. It is colorfully illustrated and well written.

This is a Random House Step Into Reading Level 4 Book.

I very much liked that the phonetic pronunciation of difficult words was given. It has short paragraphs and great illustrations to help with comprehension of this event. It is part history, part science, and part archeology and is an excellent book for children who can read on their own.

Excellent children’s reader, vocab on 4th grade level. Good pictures; carefully worded about all the death.

A good story for students to read about volcanoes and their destruction. I remember reading this as a kid and feeling sorry for the city of Pompeii.

4/5 stars given by 7-year old. She said it wasn’t exactly what she expected. She thought Pompeii would be a person instead of a place. Due to her disappointment, 4 stars.

I thought it was good. I liked how it described Pompeii. But it was kinda worrisome.

Summer read with the kids. This book was surprisingly repetitive and easy for a step up 4 book but it was informative.

My most recent student was so interested in this book, I think he exceeded his reading level in his eagerness to discover all it had to offer! Well written, engaging text with compelling line drawings illuminate Vesuvius' destruction of the ancient town for young readers. We will keep it around for years, though, because even older students with little time can grasp a good summary of events from this title. A home school super star title, highly recommended.

"Pompeii... Buried Alive!" by Edith Kunhardt Davis is a captivating historical picture book that vividly recounts the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of the ancient city of Pompeii in 79 AD. The book provides a detailed narrative of life in Pompeii before the eruption, the terrifying volcanic event, and the subsequent burial of the city under layers of volcanic ash and pumice. Through rich illustrations and engaging text, Davis effectively conveys the dramatic events and daily life of the Roman citizens affected by the disaster.

Teaching Idea: This book is suitable for grades 4-6, particularly in social studies or science lessons focusing on natural disasters and ancient civilizations. Teachers can use the book to introduce students to Roman history and the impact of volcanic eruptions. An interactive classroom activity could involve students creating a timeline of the eruption and its aftermath, using art supplies to draw scenes from Pompeii before and after the disaster. This project helps students visualize historical events and understand the significance of the eruption, fostering both historical empathy and scientific inquiry.

This text recounts the event of the natural disaster when Vesuvius erupted in Pompeii back during BC times. Readers get a glimpse of an average day when Pompeii was at its prime, at its final day, how it was rediscovered, and how it lives on today. The text covers scientific explanations of the inner workings of volcanoes and conveys a cultural picture of ancient times by demonstrating: the role of religion, the social status of slaves, the operation of an outdoor market and regular social activities. While the text is historical and scientific in nature, the author does an excellent job of presenting the information in an exciting, storytold fashion with simplistic, yet descriptive language for young readers. The lively illustrations greatly support the explanations in the text. The recurring page-ending quote, "Nobody in the [ ] knew that something terrible was going to happen," adds tension to the account to encourage the reader to keep reading to find out what in fact was going to happen. This book could serve as a mentor text for a text-to-self writing prompt in which students discuss an event that took them by surprise, as well as a text-to-text prompt in which students could compare unexpected events that occurred in other stories they have read. It could also demonstrate to young readers and writers how to add tension and suspense in a work they author. This text could be paired with Volcanoes!: Mountains of Fire to further one's knowledge of volcanoes.

I just found out on Goodreads the author inspired her mother to write Pat the Bunny, which was one of my first books. She then wrote some more of them, like "Daddy's Scratchy Face." I chose to read this to see how much detail it would go into about Pompeii. I thought it was a good introduction to teach younger children about what happened to the village of Pompeii.

Lots of good information about Pompeii and Vesuvius here. Low stars for the quality of the writing, though it is an "early reader" book, not literature. Emma was fascinated, and the interest came as a result of the Magic treehouse book about Pompeii.