From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6?As with the previous books in this series imported from France, plenty of format variations, including gatefolds, shaped edges, clear overlays, and embossed leaves?plus a sheet of stickers in a rear pocket?pump up presentations that already bulge with bright, sharply reproduced art. Making Books focuses on materials, from clay and bamboo to paper, and the technological development of type, printing, and binding. It also encompasses libraries, censorship, and children's books, though book illustration receives cursory treatment and there are only passing references to CDs and electronic formats. The forces that shape Our Changing Planet, including plate tectonics, climate, and the Earth's deep structure, get a quick review, prefaced by spreads on exploratory voyages, early science, and mythological views of the planet's origin. In both titles, a busy mix of full-color photos, reproductions of museum art, and new paintings both decorative and descriptive, force the captions into nooks and crannies, but generous line spacing gives the main texts an uncluttered look. The information is somewhat but not entirely Eurocentric, and though credited "Expert Readers" left in some howlers?the Earth's estimated age is off a thousandfold in Planet, and it is not quite true that magnets "point toward the North and South Poles"?the narratives are coherent, if general. These glitzy browsing items make great gifts but aren't likely to stay intact for long under library conditions.?John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
A lavishly illustrated introduction to our changing planet highlights pull-down spreads, vinyl stickers, and textured artwork that encompasses such scenes as Mount Vesuvius, the Pacific Ocean floor, and the Grand Canyon.
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