In my opinion, this is a great informational chapter book. First, the illustrations used throughout help to enhance the information. Certain features within the text are organized into headings such as: village life, climates, cultures, food, religions, and population statistics. All of these features have graphics or illustrations to go along with the information. Secondly, I enjoyed the organization of this text. For example, the index at the front of the book is organized by continents. Under each continent listed are different countries, cultures and facts. Readers can easily navigate through all of the geographical information found in this text. ( )

Sure to inspire a young geography buff. ( )

This was one of my favorite books back when I was eleven or twelve. I poured over its pages constantly, imagining myself in this country or that one. I was pleased to see that there's an updated edition now, a decade after the original book was published.

From what I can remember from the 1996 book, not a great deal has been changed. They've mainly just updated it for current events -- the brand-new country of East Timor, Hong Kong and Macao's being absorbed into China, etc.

I wish the book was more in-depth and I wish it was more egalitarian in terms of page space. The USA gets eight pages while many countries, Kyrgyzstan and Liberia to name two, get half a page or less. But the photographs are beautiful and this is an excellent book for providing basic geographical information and whetting a child's appetite for more. This would be great for classrooms in particular. HIGHLY recommended. ( )

excellent book, we use it daily!