Australia
Heather C. HudakBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Australia has snowcapped mountains, sunny communities, and ancient cultures. Its coastal waters teem with colorful coral and vibrant fish. Readers journey on an exciting adventure through diverse world cultures, fascinating features, and breathtaking landmarks in the Continents series. Each title offers readers an intimate glimpse into each continent's land, natural resources, historical information, and economics. An interactive quiz encourages young people to think about what they have learned. From well-known landmarks to cultural traditions, each title incorporates special features with fun facts and vibrant visuals.
Continents is a series of AV2 media enhanced books. A unique book code printed on page 2 unlocks multimedia content. These books come alive with embedded weblinks, audio and video clips, and other features, such as a slide show, matching word activity, and quiz.
Editorials
Children's Literature
Coverage of the continent begins with an overview of highlights, history, location, and salient features. New Zealand is not included in this book. Successive short chapters, some merely double-page spreads, introduce the geography, resources, and economy, including tourism, industry, and goods and services. A quick trip through the history and early exploration of the continent provides key names, rebellions, and events of the past millennium. It also suggests that various straits, waterfalls, or mountain ranges were ‘discovered' by Europeans rather than known to the indigenous people already there. Double the space of previous chapters is given to the culture: sports, entertainment, government, cultural groups, and population. The series highlights general vocabulary words (amateur, dependent, equator), as well as more specific-to-the-continent ones (marsupial, Pacific Rim, SCUBA, eucalyptus), and rounds them all up in a glossary. Back matter includes a "Brain Teaser" section of questions and answers from the text information. Other reader enticements include boxed "Fast Facts" and informative picture captions, Web sites and books for further information, and an index. The only map included indicates geographic features, with the exception of the six provinces, or states; cities; and rivers mentioned in the text—a minor annoyance to young readers who would like to see these locations. The "Continents of the World" series from World Almanac Library has more and better maps, but is for a slightly older reader. Alternatively, this overview series works very well for upper elementary reference, although report writers may have to augment with some other, more specific sources. Part ofthe "Continents" series. 2006, Weigl Publishers Inc, and Ages 9 to 12.—Susan Hepler, Ph.D.