Volcano Adventure - Willard Price

This used to be my least favourite in the collection due to its lack of a strong plot, villain, and the series' animal collecting staple, but it's grown on me over time. The likely lads are hired to study irregular volcanic activity in Japan and the Pacific under the volcano expert, Doctor Dan. Unfortunately, the good doctor is a bit touched in the head, and has seizures at critically dangerous moments. As the author's note tells us, the gang's adventures are based on real events that took place around the time Price was writing the book.

Due to the documentary realism of this entry, the overarching narrative is rather flat, although the fiery escapades are exciting enough in themselves. The facts and figures are (besides being inaccurate) a bit on the heavy side for kids, but along with the geology, there's a lot of Japanese culture shoehorned in as well; even touching on the suicide epidemic. Real events depicted include a diving bell's descent into Mihara, the sinking of the Kaiyo Maru, the exacuation of Tin Can Island, and the rescue of Hilo in Hawaii by military intervention of dropping bombs to divert a lava flow. Overall it's fun, but the books with animals are, in my opinion, better.

Rating: 3/5