From the Publisher
All the political maps and statistics have been updated in this award-winning book. The society's world-renowned cartographers, working with education consultants and geographers have created a state-of-the-art world atlas for children ages 5 to 8. Large, easy-to-read maps introduce youngsters to the world and each of its continents. Full-color photographs, carefully selected for their appeal to young children, supplement the maps and make people, places, and natural wonders come to life. Through simple but fact-filled text, children begin exploring the world by learning about maps and how to read them. Then they begin their continent-by-continent tour. Each continent begins with a welcome from a young native child, followed by an illustrated physical map with brief bulleted discussions of land regions, water, climate, plants, and animals. Similar treatment is given to the political map except the topics are countries, cities, people, languages, and products. Each spread features full-color images that are keyed to the maps. Backmatter includes a map keyed to a chart of geographic superlatives, a glossary, a pronunciation guide, and an index.
Children's Literature
I am hopelessly addicted to atlases. I find them worthy of hours of perusing. This one is designed especially for five to eight year olds. Its large format provides easy to read maps, both physical and political. That is a key feature, because many maps are very complicated and hard for younger children to read. The map of the continents has just solid flat shapes, making it easier to understand the basic concept. The viewer is not distracted by additional information. The table of contents includes a photograph of a child from each continent, as well as a small globe highlighting the location of the continent. The young faces are reassuring when approaching a subject as vast as the entire world. Large photographs compliment the maps, giving a level of detail not possible with just maps.
Children's Literature
What is a map? It is many things and in this collection, kids get a view of the physical world. It is an atlas that teaches through both physical and political maps--the physical land regions, water, climate, plants and animals, and the political countries, cities, people, language, and products. This view of the world starts with North America and there are plenty of beautiful pictures, as one would expect from National Geographic. After touring all regions of the world, the closing spreads offer the World at a Glance and statistics such as the size of the continents, oceans, highest points (keyed to a map), people population, and the most populous cities (Tokyo is tops). The glossary is minimal, and the pronunciation guide is limited. However, greetings are provided in different languages and there is a good index. This atlas is great for young kids because it contains so many pictures (many featuring young children) that will appeal and a text that is easily digested. 1999, National Geographic, Ages 5 to 8, $17.95. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot
Science Book & Fiction
This first atlas for ages 5-8 introduces young children to what maps are, how they are used, and what information they provide. Large, uncluttered physical and political maps of the world, of each of the seven continents, and of the United States and Canada are used to explain the difference between the two types of maps. Free of all the details of the maps in an "adult" atlas, those presented here provide quick reference to the topography of the continents and the location of countries and capitals. Accompanying each physical map of a continent are two- to three-sentence illustrated descriptions of the land, water, climate, plants, and animals of that continent. Each political map has similar paragraphs describing the countries, cities, people, languages, and products of the continent.
The concepts of direction and location are explained early in the book, before the maps are shown. But although the equator appears on the maps, unfortunately, it is never explained. Latitude and longitude, which could have been introduced as an address system similar to streets and avenues to help find a place, are neither shown on the maps nor described in the text. A book must grow with the child. Even if a five-year-old doesn't understand a coordinate system, an eight-year-old will certainly need to learn it.
The illustrations frequently show smiling children in attractive local costumes, representing the culture and products of their countries. Fortunately, the tendency to emphasize the exotic over the customary here is lessened by clearly labeling the costumes as being worn for festive or other special occasions. However, to avoid cultural or ethnic stereotyping, the book should have used moreillustrations of children doing a variety of things. An illustration of Saudi Arabian children racing camels, for instance, could be replaced by one showing them studying mathematics in school. And an illustration of a smiling peasant boy in rags sitting on a pile of recently harvested bananas could have been used to make a comment about child labor.
In spite of these shortcomings, a young child reading or browsing this colorful, attractively illustrated atlas will learn a lot about the world and will be stimulated to seek further knowledge. A short glossary, an index, and a section titled "World at a Glance" are included. Recommended, Grades PreK-Grade 2. REVIEWER: Dr. William H. Glenn
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