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Now Kids Can Have the World in Their Pockets!
Just the thing for baggy, low-slung, big-pocketed jeans: The Kingfisher Young
People’s Pocket Atlas. And to go along with it, two more pocket-sized volumes---a dictionary and a thesaurus!
New for 1997, The Kingfisher Young People’s Pocket Atlas, makes an ideal classroom reference. This new atlas provides bite-sized bits about nearly 200
countries and comes with more than 2,000 full color illustrations---including 48 state-of-the-art relief maps.
The pocket-sized volume is organized by continent. No, not every country is covered in minute detail. But the text provides outlines of countries and/or regions (ie., the Andean
States, the Middle East, Western Africa), with a handy locator globe for each one. Included is information about geography, history, economy, culture, language, and
religion. Each country’s flag appears with a convenient thumbnail sketch that includes information about the country’s size and population, and its language, currency, and major
exports. A thorough index will connect kids to any country they want to learn about.
Is the atlas up to date? As much as any atlas can be in an ever-changing world! The breakup of the former Soviet Union is covered. So are the breakups of the former
Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The atlas also includes explanations of the defeat of the Sandanistas in Nicaragua’s 1990 elections; the turmoil in Northern Ireland; Austria’s
joining the European Union (1995); and the battle between the Hutus and the Tutsis in Rwanda and Burundi (1994).
[Note: For information about the world’s newest country, see the story about the Democratic Republic of Congo in Education World’s
Lesson Planning area this week.]
In addition, The Kingfisher Young People’s Pocket Atlas provides full-page introductions to “Planet Earth” and “The Solar System;” a two-page spread of
world superlatives (for example, the world’s hottest and coldest recorded temperatures, the most snow ever recorded, the strongest ground wind on record); and an explanation of
how maps are made, including descriptions of a handful of map projections. The atlas also includes an up-to-date glossary full of words and terms such as apartheid, cash
crop, deforestation, free market, guerilla, petrochemical, sanction, and shanty town.
Are there more thorough atlases for students? Sure there are! But The Kingfisher Young People’s Pocket Atlas doesn’t pretend to be National Geographic! It does, however, offer students a sense for how
people live and work in the world of the 1990s. The atlas packs a huge amount of important information into 200 pages. And, best of all, its cost is under $10!
A DICTIONARY AND A THESAURUS TOO! AND MORE!
The new atlas isn’t the only pocket-sized reference from Kingfisher. Two companion books of compact size---a dictionary and a thesaurus---are available too. Also, coming
soon, The Kingfisher Young People’s Atlas of the World, a hard-cover, full-size (9 inches by 12 inches) volume. Curious students will be able to
journey from continent to continent with the help of more than 275 full-color maps and illustrations, easy-to-read charts of facts and figures, and much more. Available this fall
from Kingfisher for $19.95. Check with your local bookseller for information about any of these Kingfisher books.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World® Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 1997 Education World
07/14/1997
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