The fictional picture book Gopher to the Rescue: A Volcano Recovery Story by Terry Catasus Jennings (illustrated by Laurie O’Keefe; Sylvan Dell Publishing, 2012) will help young children understand how habitats are recovered after a natural disaster such as a volcano or fire.
In the story, our title character Gopher naturally digs under the ground to find roots and bulbs to eat. After a volcano destroys much of his habitat, he keeps digging, making the soil fertile for the seeds that take root and the other animals that wish to return.
Note that not all animals have survived in this book. After a page that says “The animals try to run away.”, the illustration does shows dead animals lying on the ground, even though gopher is safe underground. Such an image may not be suitable for all children. But as gopher pops out of the ground to investigate, he is not alone: an ant, mouse, and beetle are finding food in the ash-covered landscape. Gopher’s tunnels also become a cool place of refuge for amphibians coming out of the ponds, lakes, and rivers.
The book details that it takes years, and even decades, for gopher’s habitat to return to normal. The illustrations make it clear that it is a depiction of the Mount Saint Helen’s volcanic eruption shown in this book. Four pages of detailed learning concepts follow the story. They focus on volcanoes, tectonic plates, and now natural disasters change habitats. A hands-on volcano experiment about pressure is also included. Although the realities of the eruption, such as animal death, are not for all children, Gopher to the Rescue is thorough and fascinating look at how habitats change, adapt, and recover on our earth.