I Am a Tornado Cloud

What turns a towering thunderstorm into a tornado-making supercell?Winds change. Warm air surges upward. A thunderstorm begins to rotate. Deep inside the cloud, rain, hail, rising air, and powerful winds interact-until a funnel may begin reaching toward the ground.Children can understand far more than we sometimes expect. I Am a Tornado Cloud doesn't shrink the science to fit an arbitrary idea of what young children are "ready" to know. Instead, it gives curious young minds real tornado science through language and illustrations designed to make big ideas understandable-and fascinating.Told from the cloud's point of view, this dramatic science adventure follows a thunderstorm as it grows, begins to rotate, develops a funnel, and may become a tornado. Along the way, young readers encounter real scientific ideas and important distinctions: a supercell does not always produce a tornado, a funnel cloud is not yet a tornado, and dangerous winds can extend beyond the funnel we can see.Vivid language captures the tension and wonder of an extraordinary storm while introducing meteorologists, radar monitoring, tornado safety, and the dangers that can remain even after a tornado disappears.Part of the I Am a Cloud series, I Am a Tornado Cloud is nonfiction for children who are ready to wonder, question, and understand more than we often give them credit for.Because your child's mind isn't common.