Firefly Geography Dictionary

Alliance The Alliance Review

Excellent colorful illustrations, charts and maps help the reader to understand each definition... Terms and concepts are clearly explained.
— Harrieet Clem

Choice

The dictionary lives up to its claim to be comprehensive... Recommended. All academic and public libraries.
— J.A. Coombs

American Reference Books Annual, Volume 35 - Michael Levine-Clark

The dictionary is attractive and filled with many appropriate and useful illustrations, most of which are in color.

Alliance The Alliance Review - Harrieet Clem

Excellent colorful illustrations, charts and maps help the reader to understand each definition... Terms and concepts are clearly explained throughout the book.

Choice - J.A. Coombs

The dictionary lives up to its claim to be comprehensive... Recommended. All academic and public libraries.

Children's Literature

If you need information about any geography term, this book makes a great reference for specific terms. Over 1,500 words are defined in this dictionary, and over 130 illustrations are included. Diagrams illustrate many concepts such as the carbon cycle, parts of a cave, land and sea breezes, the magnetosphere, soil, a rift valley, and dozens more. Tables and graphs also provide additional information such as the world's longest rivers and rainfall during a 10-year period. Many different views of the earth are shown from maps to globes all explaining different ideas from time zones to presence of deserts over the world. While many of the terms explained are quite complex, even geography terms taught in elementary schools are covered and illustrated, which makes this book a good reference for teachers. However, this book would be useful for college students and adults who are studying or are interested in the earth and its complexities. 2003, Firefly Books, Ages 10 up.
—Marcie Flinchum Atkins

KLIATT

With over 1500 articles on "the major terms used in physical, human, and environment geography," this is the little book that could. Strictly alphabetical, from "aa," the Hawaiian name for blocky lava, to "zonal soil," a soil found in a large area having similar climate and vegetation, the text appears to have been carefully controlled for reading level difficulty. The sentences tend to be short and clear. Almost every page has a colored illustration or map supporting or adding to an article. Where terms overlap, bold print indicates cross references. Definitely a useful classroom or library tool. KLIATT Codes: JSA-Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2003, Firefly, 256p. illus. maps., Ages 12 to adult.
— Patricia Moore

Library Journal

These compact references, generously illustrated with maps, diagrams, and charts throughout, feature a similar, user-friendly format but contain some discrepancies worth noting. The Geography Dictionary features more than 1500 alphabetically arranged entries that define terms used in "physical, human, and environmental geography." These terms cover all aspects of geography (e.g., weather and climate, the atmosphere, and coastal formation) and include such terms as, for example, "bacteria," "barchan," and "hunter and gatherer," as well as "volcanic plug" and "wadi." This extensive resource is cross-referenced and features some 130 color illustrations that support the text. The World Factbook is also a cross-referenced A-to-Z reference that uses a somewhat smaller font with lighter typeface. Its articles and maps, which cover all the countries of the world, vary greatly in terms of length and depth of treatment. While large countries contain extensive blurbs on various topics, sometimes averaging two pages, smaller countries or islands (e.g., the islands of the Pacific) are often treated as part of a shared geographic region (e.g., Bhutan and Nepal are included in the entry for India). Longer articles include the standard fact box data in addition to summaries of the country's history, government, climate, and geography. Also included are a small inset-style map of the specific geographic area and a "Did You Know" box. The Guide to Flags devotes a page to each of the 193 country flags presented while also including separate sections for the state flags of the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom as well as International Organization flags and signal flags. Each entry consists of a brief history of the country and its flag, a small fact box of vital statistics, and a postage stamp. However, the guide barely scratches the surface when compared with such standard titles as William Crampton's Flags of the World, which offers a more extensive historical background, along with illustrations of the flags used throughout each country's history. In addition, the fact boxes in the Guide to Flags and the World Factbook appear identical, but the population data differ between the two volumes as well as when compared with standard resources. For example, according to the World Factbook, Cambodia has a population of 12,492,000, while The Guide to Flags lists 11,437,656. The CIA World Fact Book and Information Please Almanac, on the other hand, both list 13,124,764. All in all, the Geography Dictionary is a useful addition to any reference collection, while the other two works are useful only as supplements in small circulating collections in public libraries. They are simply not current or in-depth enough to serve as standalone reference books.-Laurie Selwyn, Grayson Cty. Law Lib., Sherman, TX Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.