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The Kingfisher Reference Atlas: An A-Z Guide to Countries of the World
The Kingfisher Reference Atlas An AZ Guide to Countries of the World Author:Kingfisher, Williams Grade 4-8-Visually appealing but poorly organized, this atlas falls short. Overloaded with maps, graphs, statistics, flags, and historical overviews, each page (in some cases two to three pages) is devoted to a particular nation. While primarily alphabetical, arbitrary lapses into a geographical arrangement are frequent. For example, Andorra is ... more »placed with Spain, San Marino with Italy, and Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are found together under "Baltic States." Cross-references are useful but sometimes run the entire length of the upper margin. Entries for continents, oceans, and large areas such as "Oceania" and "The Arctic" are related but confusing interjections. While most of the primary maps are fairly detailed (and the perfect size for class project covers), the contour and positional maps are approximately two square inches in size. Graphs displaying population trends and climatic conditions are equally tiny. Historical information is sketchy, and in the case of the former Yugoslavia, so bare bones that readers could conclude that all problems in that area have been resolved. Until something better comes along, rely on The World Book Encyclopedia and The World Almanac.« less