Barefoot Books World Atlas

by Nick Crane, David Dean (Illustrator)

Overview

This is the atlas for twenty-first-century readers. It's packed with information about the way in which communities and cultures around the world have been shaped by their local environments, and it looks at the ideas and initiatives that are shaping the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846863332
Publisher:	Barefoot Books
Publication date:	11/01/2011
Pages:	47
Sales rank:	60,101
Product dimensions:	10.30(w) x 12.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	1180L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Editorial Reviews

This fresh and informative atlas offers engaging, fact-filled overviews of Earth’s oceans and continents. Mini-books, flaps, and sidebars address topics ranging from “People and Places” to “Transport.” Dean’s maps are crowded with warmly illustrated people, animals, places, and objects that represent particular areas of the world—Ukraine is distinguished by a Cossack dancer and ornately decorated pysanka, and a ring-tailed lemur appears in Madagascar. With its emphasis on sustainability, interconnectedness, and diversity, the book offers young armchair travelers and globe-trotters much to discover. Includes a removable world map. An app is also available. All ages. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 3–5—This colorful volume provides solid content on Antarctica; Oceania; Southeast Asia; East Asia; North and Central Asia; South Asia; Southwest Asia (aka the Middle East); Europe; North Africa; Southern Africa; North America; Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean; South America; and the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Oceans. Topics discussed include physical features, climate and weather, land use and natural resources, environment, marine life, wildlife, people and places, and transport. "Did You Know?" sections include four to eight fun facts about each region. Acrylic illustrations are plentiful, and students will enjoy looking at the details, although there are only country delineations, e.g., North America shows Canada and the United States but not the provinces or states. An index of countries and capitals is appended. Children who like geography will find this to be an interesting read, but will need to look elsewhere for more geographic details about each region.—Stephanie Farnlacher, Trace Crossings Elementary School, Hoover, AL

School Library Journal

Retro-looking maps with pictures of animals, transport, famous landmarks and traditional dancers fill the pages of this mediocre atlas.

The text emphasizes environmental changes and sustainability, with proportionately less information on people. Organizationally, it starts with the oceans, including the two polar areas, and then explores the landmasses. Short, factoid-heavy paragraphs on physical features, climate and weather, natural resources, environment, wildlife and transport accompany each deeply colored map, and in the appropriate regional sections, a paragraph on people and places is added. Although the disproportionately sized pictures of landmarks, natural resources, generic people and miscellany on the maps are identified ("Omani man"; "bus"), too often they are not further explicated. Occasional fold-out pages and small, inserted "Did You Know?" booklets give the illusion of interactivity. Providing comparisons on carbon footprints ("a person in the UAE [United Arab Emirates] on average emits 15 times more than a person in China") is vital information that seems at odds with the childish maps. A separate wall map (in the same style) is included. The woeful index includes only entries for country names, followed by their capitals.

The balance between information and attractive bookmaking is always important, but atlases like the National Geographic World Atlas for Young Explorers (2007) still remain the gold standard. This struggles to meet the bronze one. (glossary, index, sources; companion app not seen) (Reference. 9-11)

Kirkus Reviews