What Was the Great Molasses Flood of 1919? (What Was?)

by Kirsten Anderson (Author) Dede Putra (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4^th − 5^th Grade

Series: What Was?

Learn about Boston's molasses disaster of 1919, when a storage tank burst and flooded the streets, in this latest addition to the New York Times Bestselling What Was? series.

An unusually warm winter day resulted in 2.3 million gallons of molasses flooding the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The disaster killed twenty-one people and injured 150 others. Rescue missions were launched to save people from the sticky and deadly mess, led by the Red Cross, the Army, the Navy, and the Massachusetts Nautical School. With the help of hundreds of volunteers over the course of several weeks, the streets were cleaned up. But the smell of molasses and the horror of the preventable tragedy lingered for decades to come.

Common Sense Media Review

Select format:

Paperback

$7.99

Available

Quantity

Paperback

$7.99

Locate at a Library Near You

WorldCat is the world's largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online.

Add to Wishlist

Find books about:

History

More books in the series - See All

What Were the Shark Attacks of 1916? (What Was?)

What Was the Children's Blizzard of 1888? (What Was?)

What Was the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921? (What Was?)

What Is the Women's World Cup? (What Was?)

What Was the Harlem Renaissance? (What Was?)

What Are the Winter Olympics? (What Was?)

What Is the Coronavirus Disease Covid-19? (What Was?)

What Was the Age of Exploration? (What Was?)

What Is the Civil Rights Movement? (What Was?)

What Is a Presidential Election?: With Activities, Stickers, and a Poster! (What Was?)

What Was the Bombing of Hiroshima? (What Was?)

What Were the Negro Leagues? (What Was?)

What Were the Roaring Twenties? (What Was?)

What Is the Women's Rights Movement? (What Was?)

What Are the Ten Commandments? (What Was?)

What Was the Age of the Dinosaurs? (What Was?)

What Was the San Francisco Earthquake? (What Was?)

What Was the Great Chicago Fire? (What Was?)

What Is the Declaration of Independence? (What Was?)

What Are the Summer Olympics? (What Was?)

What Was the Great Depression? (What Was?)

What Were the Salem Witch Trials? (What Was?)

What Was the Lewis and Clark Expedition? (What Was)

What Is the Statue of Liberty? (What Was?)

What Was the Underground Railroad? (What Was?)

What Was the Battle of Gettysburg? (What Was?)

What Was the March on Washington? (What Was?)

What Was the Boston Tea Party? (What Was?)

Kirsten Anderson

Kirsten Anderson is a writer and actress who lives in New York City with her charming Pomeranian, Sunflower. She has written several biographies for children, including Who Is Zendaya? and Who Is Kamala Harris?

Gregory Copeland is an award-winning illustrator who specializes in representational art and portraiture, as well as historical and horror/fantasy subjects. He paints both digitally and traditionally with oils. In addition to many national publications and book-cover commissions, Greg's work has been awarded by prominent illustration competitions such as the Society of Illustrators New York, Communication Arts Illustration Annual, Spectrum Fantasy Art, and 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide.

Classification

Non-fiction

ISBN-13

9780593520772

Lexile Measure

Guided Reading Level

Publisher

Penguin Workshop

Publication date

April 20, 2024

Series

What Was?

BISAC categories

JNF025210 - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | United States/20th Century
JNF051160 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Disasters

Library of Congress categories

History
20th century
Massachusetts
Boston
Boston (Mass.)
Accidents
Floods
1865-
Molasses industry
Industrial accidents

What Was the Great Molasses Flood of 1919? (What Was?)

Find books about:

More books in the series - See All

Motivating Kids to Read

Making Reading Fun!

Really Great Books

Join Bookelicious Today

Find books about:

More books in the series - See All

Subscribe to our delicious e-newsletter!

Purchase eWallet Credit