Climate: Causes and Effects of Climate Change

Children's Literature - Mary and Thad Ashcliffe

This book is from the eight-volume set titled "Our Fragile Planet." In this review, we are speaking specifically about the volume on climate change. If the other volumes in this series are at least equal to this volume, this is a stellar series more than worthy of purchase in its entirety. Of the volumes from this set we have seen, all were uniformly well done, from the text to the charts, graphs, and sidebars to the drawings and photographs. Information was very current and well written. We especially liked the use of bolding new words/concepts for easy identification for the student reader. All bolded terms appear in a glossary, even though the content words are nicely defined in the text. The general organization of each volume was also student-friendly. The author started with the big picture/overview of the topic and the problems that we as a species have caused and, therefore, must address, discussing seldom mentioned topics, like the introduction of invasive species into an environment or the acidification of the oceans. The illustrations, charts, and graphs in this volume are excellent and uniformly appropriate. For example, the satellite images used on page 77 eloquently show the break-up of an ice sheet. The real strength of the visual elements is in the charts and graphs. The author makes excellent use of those formats, showing trends, interactions, correlations, and relationships. The illustrations, while visually simple, are extremely effective wherever they occur and convey information to students so that they can understand it simply, making the illustrations not only attractive but also effective. One of the problems for students and others who are discussing climate isthat we each have an immediate and personal experience with the climate. This makes it difficult to grasp other aspects and impacts of climate change. The author handles this well by discussing the very complex consequences of climate change and complementing the partial information that has been hyped by the media. Equally excellent is the presentation of future potential fuels and the need for large scale solutions rather than simple actions such as going "green." The list of references and websites was top notch and the index was thorough. The publisher sites these volumes as being appropriate for the sixth to twelfth grader; however, the nine to eleven year old contingent would find much to absorb in this set. The information is not simplified so a younger audience would find itself using these books on a topic basis rather than in their entirety. Although a textbook, this is the kind of set of nature books that many students, even those who are not typically interested in the subject, would find fascinating to browse for fascinating tidbits, which is a wonderful way to peak interest in a subject. This book and the entire set is highly recommended. Reviewer: Mary and Thad Ashcliffe