Michael McMahon

This slender volume consists of a collection of photographs taken by the renowned railway photographer R.C. Riley on a visit to Ireland in 1950. At that time, Irish railways were (mostly) some twenty years behind similar lines in Britain, although in some areas (such as the adoption of diesel railcars), they were ahead. But even new engines being built in the late 1940s and early 1950s were mainly from much older designs. Moreover, railways in the Republic, recently nationalised, were recovering from what was known as "the Emergency", the restriction of fuel imports from the UK due to the war situation.

What this means is that the photographs here are a glimpse into a very particular moment in Irish railway history. There are some very workaday scenes as well as outstanding portraits of locomotives.

This book is a print-on-demand publication from Totem Publishing, the publishing arm of the photographic archive The Transport Treasury. It is reasonably priced and produced to a very high standard of reproduction and binding - but with one exception. It seems that no-one actually cleaned the negatives used in this book before they were scanned. Many pictures display prominent blemishes caused by dust and hairs. Equally, much of the more obvious damage could have been eliminated using Photoshop's image repair tools post-scan. That this was not done is a shame, as it is literally a blemish on what would otherwise be a fine publication.… (mehr)

Summary: This book is full of facts and history about the planets, stars, and the history of discovering some things about the space. It has very colorful and specific photographs of planets, important people, first moon landing, and stars. The book is set up as asking a question in big bold fun lettering and then the answer is beneath is along with a picture that usually corresponds with the question. Very informative and written accurately.

Personal Reaction: I liked this book very much due to the information provided, the graphic photographs, the specific details and the fun activity along with a index and glossary of vocabulary words in the back of the book. This book is definitely for younger elementary students, but it would be a great starter book for the exploration of planets in my classroom.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1) Assemble your own planet book. The teacher will provide books about the planets or allow for computer use for research for this activity. Each student will get 8 sheets of paper and will draw, and color one planet on each sheet of paper. On the back of the paper, the student will write facts and interesting information they found out about the planet. Punch holes in the papers on the sides and tie with a string to create their very own planet book.
2) Google Earth. There is a free download for this and you can view Earth, the sky, stars, the moon, planets, and the moon from this website. This would be a great interactive activity to do with the students to get them excited about learning about science and space, as well as Earth and the many places (China from google earth, the pyramids etc.) http://www.google.com/earth/explore/showcase/sky.html… (mehr)