Years ago when we lived in Memphis and my daughters were two and four years old, I was preparing dinner and they were drawing pictures at the table when we were all startled at the sound of a freight train coming through the kitchen. The girls leaped from the table into my arms and then the sound stopped. That’s when I noticed a couple of cracks on the ceiling that hadn’t been there before.

It wasn’t a train, of course, but an earthquake running along the New Madrid fault, not the big one, but enough of a rumble to rattle the rafters. . .and scare Ellen and Polly into asking all kinds of questions about this natural phenomenon. For a week or so afterwards, they were still talking about the incident.

Books can help explain earthquakes and other forces of nature. In fact, just the act of finding a cozy place to sit and read to your children can be soothing and reassuring.

First, you might want to bone up on your knowledge by checking out the book, “Coping with Natural Disasters” from any Springfield-Greene County Library. The slim volume by Allison Stark Draper explains the science of earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfire and lightning in simple and understandable prose and then gives straightforward advice on dealing with each natural disaster, including the emotional reactions to them.

Vera Florea, the library’s youth services coordinator, recommends these books to help children cope with various weather-related problems. The first couple are suitable for young readers and the others for older kids, but they all have pictures that interest all ages of children.

• “Hurricanes” by Arlene Erlbach
  
• “Hurricane and Typhoon Alert!” by Paul Challen
  
• “Hurricanes Have Eyes But Can’t See and Other Amazing Facts About Wild Weather” by Melvin and Gilda Berger
  
• “Hurricane & Tornado,” a Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Book by Jack Challoner
  
• “Tornadoes and Other Dramatic Weather Systems,” another Dorling Kindersley Book by Michael Allaby.