Where in the world... (Childrens Picture Atlas - Ruth Brocklehurst)

Member Name: juicy_lucy

Product:	Childrens Picture Atlas - Ruth Brocklehurst
Date:	19/03/07 (176 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of information

Disadvantages: none

Usborne Children’s Picture Atlas

Another well thumbed Usborne book, offering lots of information and good value.

THE BOOK

The book itself is divided into double page spreads covering: The Universe; What Are Maps?; Countries and Cities; People; Getting Around; Ice and Snow; Deserts; Grasslands; Forests; Mountains; Rivers and Lakes; Seas and Oceans; The World; North America; South America; Australasia and Oceania; Asia; Africa; Europe; The Arctic; Antarctica.

The double page spreads are divided into bite size pieces of information, with photographs, pictures and cartoons to emphases the information. There is information on the capitals of countries, the people who live in the countries and other snippets of information which children may find interesting, such as an explanation of why camels have wide feet.

Where it is useful to have maps (from the World onwards), these are largely shown pictorially. On the maps there are bits of information, backed up by illustrations of people places and animals as appropriate, so in North America, for example, there are pictures office hockey players, bald eagles, reggae singers, bananas, and lots more. This ensures that children have things they can discuss, and will pick out pictures they want to talk about.

Towards the end of the book is a double page spread @A Trip Around the World@. This is a quiz about the information in the book. There are questions about matching travelling items with places, questions about what you would see in different places, and questions about where you would meet different people (Hopi dancer, girl in a kimono, reggae singer, Zulu dancer). Whilst children will probably not be able to answer them all from memory, they will be able to look through the book for the answers.

The very end of the book has an index of places, an index of things, and the answers to the questions in the quiz. These are very comprehensive, so any place children want to find out about, they will easily be able locate.

OTHER BITS OF INFORMATION

ISBN 0 7460 4713 4

Price: #7.99

Website: www.usborne.com

OTHER BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY LINDA EDWARDS

The illustrator has illustrated several books for Usborne Publishing including:

Usborne Children’s Bible
Stories From Around The World
Greek Myths For Young Children

WHAT I THINK OF THE BOOK

The book answers many questions which children may ask about the world and the people, places and animals in the world. Looking at the maps, children can find out where countries are, the people who live in them, and the plants that grow in the different countries. I have found that many questions children ask about the world can be answered by looking in this book. I have found that it’s great when used in conjunction with a globe so that children can get an idea of where the countries are and their proximity to their own country. We look at the pictures and then the globe so we have an idea of who lives where.

The pictures are bright and vibrant, with lots of colour and detail, and will almost certainly appeal to children. I like the mix of photographs, pictures and cartoon style illustrations, which keeps children interested and encourages them to ask questions.

For children who are too young to understand and @read@ a conventional map, this is a good alternative. Fun, bright, appealing, with just the right amount of information to maintain interest without bring them

Another good book from Usborne.

Thanks for reading.

Daniela

xx

Summary: A well presented children's atlas