The Great Molasses Flood: Boston, 1919

I am ashamed to say I had never heard the story of The Great Molasses Flood, more so because I was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts where it took place in February of 1915, in the North End of Boston. I happened to see a post on facebook about it being the anniversary of the disaster and decided to look into it. I was prompted to order the book from Amazon and when it arrived I read it almost from cover to cover. Interrupted by life chores I had to put it aside for a day. It was so descriptive I felt I had been propelled back in time and I could see and feel everything taking place as the giant molasses tank erupted and spew its contents over the city in a fifty foot wave of black, undulating syrup which covered and coated and smothered people and animals alike as it traveled on its perilous journey. House were smashes along the way and the elevated railway lost a section of its track. Cleaning up and restoring after such a tragedy took a long time and putting things back to rights never really happened afterward. Only time has healed the terrible wounds caused by such a freak accident which never would have happened if not for the greed and money lust of the men who owned it and ordered it built in spite of broken safety regulations. Sad, and daunting, it will make you sigh and shake your head at the cold and tarnished hearts of some who forge ahead to satisfy their own aims no matter who pays the price.

I used this as companion text after reading Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to my 3rd grade EL students. The book is much too hard for them to read on their own, and I only read some of chapter 2 aloud so the students could get an understanding of the magnitude of what happened. We live in a Boston suburb, so the kids could really connect to the story. While the students were very engaged, I was hoping for better photos in the book. I did like how it read like a story, it kept the kids listening, however, I needed to show more pictures from the internet, because the students wanted to see more.

Good general knowledge... but read DARK TIDE if you want a more definitive and dramatic story.

a very interesting book, well written about an often forgotten industrial disaster. Has the intrigue of a spy novel and describes the economic, political and social atmosphere of the early 1900s

After watching the drunk history on this topic I immediately bought this book. Accidentally sent 11 copies to my mothers house. She was not pleased. Library did not except.

This book was really interesting. The reason why I didn't give it 5 stars was because it's listed for 9-12 year olds. I would disagree. I think it's more for 7-9 year olds. (Granted, 7 yr old might have trouble reading it themselves.) The sentences are really short and choppy, and there are WAY too many details not needed. The story rambled on and on at the end. But before the last few pages, the story is very good.

Being from Boston, I have enjoyed reading about the Great Molasses Flood, first by Stephen Puleo (Dark Tide), now by Deborah Kops. Deborah has some photos not in the other book, and visa versa. Good reading!

Great book for one of my students projects.

Another avoidable disaster.