Floods are frightening acts of nature. Usually occurring near a river, citizens of the area watch helplessly as the waters begin to rise. They pray that the rains stop and the flow of water from the north abate.

Sometimes they get lucky and the flood is not too damaging, but other times misfortune arrives as dams and levees break. Then the penned up water surges through the weakened opening and disaster follows.

While the 2011 Mississippi River flood may be the worst to ever strike the United States, Deborah Kent tells the fearsome story of the 1927 flood. The title of this excellent book is "The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927."

The Mississippi River and its tributaries touch 31 states. Virtually all the rivers east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Appalachian Mountains flow into the Mississippi. This huge watershed usually flows southward through New Orleans into the Gulf of Mexico. But in certain years, due to heavy snowfall and rains, the "Father of Waters" overflows its banks.

As people began settling the areas along the river, a series of earthen walls called levees were built. These massive structures were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to exact specifications. They were to be 30 feet high, 188 feet thick at the base, and gradually sloping upward to an 8-foot wide plateau on the top. This size of levee was the norm for the 1,100 miles from Cairo, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1926, the head of the Army Corps of Engineers, General Edgar Jadwin, confidently stated that this engineering feat could withstand any flood the Mississippi could throw at the levee system.

Heavy rains fell in late 1926, and were followed by deep snowfalls. By early spring the waters of the river began to rise. The tons and tons of water began pressing against and stretching the river’s levees. All along the river, workmen began to frantically build the levees higher, only to watch more rain fall and see the river continue to rise. Weak points in the levees began to leak, and everyone became terrified of a crevasse, or break, in the levees. Orders were given to armed guardsmen walking on the top of the levees to shoot anyone trying to damage the levees.

In spite of all this heroic effort, the levees broke in the state of Mississippi. This northern section of Mississippi, called The Delta had large section swamped under many feet of water. The city of New Orleans knew they were next. What should they do to save their city?

What answers did New Orleans arrive at? How did 39 tons of dynamite play a role in saving New Orleans? Who paid the price for this salvation? Who were the winners and losers of the 1927 flood?

Is it really possible to channel a river as immense as the Mississippi into a levee system? What have we learned in the last 90 years about floods on the Mississippi River? To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out this well-written book about the 1927 flood.

Deborah Kent has written a number of excellent nonfiction books for children. This title is in the highly regarded Cornerstones of Freedom series. The writing is very interesting and the photographs draw readers into the power and awful terror of the Mississippi River during a flood.

Having grown up on the banks of the Mississippi River, I can attest to the immense havoc a flood can inflict on an area. This book would be quite useful to students in the fourth through sixth grades in social studies classes. Kent’s book was not enjoyable for me, but it was compelling reading.