Hard to believe the miners made it out alive! Their strength , leadership, and faith kept the miners hopeful! ( )

Buried Alive! How 33 Miners Survived 69 Days Deep Under the Chilean Desert Elaine Scott
It was a disaster heard around the world. It took over new stations and news stands until the very last rescue-- in 2010, 33 miners were trapped underground in Chile for more than three months.

This book starts with information I had never known-- that similar accidents had happened in the San Jose mine in the past. That information made me angry that better preventative measures weren’t taken (the company’s owners did not make sure to extend a safety ladder that could have saved the miners far sooner than 69 days), but I digress; because still, the pages are so captivating that I kept reading. The chapters are not long and boring as much writing about current events can easily become. The chapters are concise and interesting. At times I though I would get confused by the flashes between the miners and the family and friends above ground during rescue efforts. However the author did a great job at avoiding that confusion.

The photographs are wonderful, provided by cameras that were sent down by rescue workers to capture the trapped miners.

The story wraps up with a sort of “where are they now” feature where we learn about the company and the miners. A different mine owner gave the men small settlements of a little over ten thousand dollars. But many are still struggling, broke and unemployed, while the company they worked for, San Esteban Mining Company, has filed bankruptcy.
has filed for bankruptcy.

Throughout the text readers learn a lot about the miners through newspaper and online sources because after their rescue most of the men just wanted to return home and not share their stories with the media. So the author was sure not to inject her own opinions by letting her research speak for itself. The resources she used helps guide readers to further research and sparks an interest in further reading, though I wish the author would have provided such a list.

Not as thorough or dramatic a chronicle as Marc Aronson's Trapped (Atheneum, 2011) but this book has more to offer in color photographs and visuals. ( )

awesome book! excellent overview of the trapped miners. great pictures, the story is told well without getting bogged down with a lot of detail. ( )

This was really interesting. The diagrams were useful, the pictures well captioned, and the story was written in a straightforward enough way that I could read parts of it with second and third graders. The author included quite a few references to faith, which is understandable, but be ready to discuss it. Excellent addition to a study of human endeavors, geology, or current events.