Mazes Around the World [Hardcover]

Mary D. Lankford (Author), Karen Dugan (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Puzzling and mysterious, mazes and labyrinths have fascinated people around the world for centuries.

From England to Egypt, Greece to South Africa and beyond, travel on an exciting journey as you discover the secrets of these intriguing patterns. In this book you'll learn about the many varieties of mazes, from stone to hedge to turf, and you'll hear about the legends surrounding some of the most famous labyrinths of all time.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3–4—This book offers an interesting look at different types of mazes. Lankford explains why they might have been constructed and mentions the legends or history behind them. Among those included are "Greece: The Minotaur's Maze," "United Kingdom: Turf Mazes," "North America: Maize Mazes," "South Africa: Soekershof Mazes," and "France: Religious Labyrinths." A spread is devoted to each one, with a page of text facing a full-page, softly colored illustration that shows the maze, the landscape in which it is found, and children playing in or around it. This is a beautiful book that will pique readers' curiosity and leave them wanting to know more.—Cynde Suite, Bartow County Library System, Adairsville, GA
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Review

“Offers an engaging account...this well-researched, accessible book explores a topic with inherent child appeal.” (ALA Booklist )

“Offers an interesting look at different types of mazes...A beautiful book that will pique readers’ curiosity and leave them wanting to know more.” (School Library Journal )

“Absorbing...provides fascinating snippets of information.” (Kirkus Reviews )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Collins (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688165192
• ISBN-13: 978-0688165192
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 10.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,158,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This unusual book about mazes will fascinate the casual reader and may spark an interest in further research in others!, June 20, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mazes Around the World (Hardcover)

Mazes can be a lot of fun. We're not talking about the little handheld toy mazes you can sometimes buy in a store or the type of maze that a mouse runs through, but rather the large, unusual mazes that have cropped up though time. Perhaps you've even had a chance to go through a corn maze or sunflower maze and got totally lost. Hopefully you found this experience to be fun and not upsetting!

In this book you will read about many different historical mazes and labyrinths. Many years ago these two terms meant the "same thing," but now the author claims that "today a labyrinth is often thought of as a maze with a single path to the center, while a maze has many false turns and dead ends." You will learn about a massive maze called the Egyptian Labyrinth, the Minotaur's Maze in Greece, religious labyrinths (Algeria, France and San Francisco), stone mazes in Sweden that had many reasons for existing (superstition not excluded!), turf mazes in the United Kingdom called Caerdroia, hedge mazes in the United Kingdom (one is a whopping 2,771 acres!), water mazes in the United Kingdom and in France, the woven Mazes of the North American Native American basket weavers, the maize mazes of North America and the Soekershof mazes of South Africa.

This unusual book about mazes will fascinate the casual reader and may spark an interest in further research in others. A simple article read during a plane flight spurred the author on in her quest to find out more. In the front of the book is a simple map showing where the mazes described in the book are located. Each maze is concisely described on a single page and followed by a captivating depiction of the area that shows where the maze may be located or depicts part of a maze itself. In the back of the book there is a translation page for the words maze and labyrinth, two mazes (tricky, tricky!), a bibliography and an index. After you read this book and get the maze bug, you can always look into the Corn Maze Directory online and find a maze near you!