Synopsis
Compares, in text and illustrations, the relative heights and lengths of various animals, plants, insects, fish, buildings, waterfalls, and mountains.
Jacki Vawter, Ph.D. - Children's Literature
Each of the four books in this series is devoted to one form of measuring: speed, length, height and mass. In this book, height is examined in simple double page chapters, each titled with a range of inches or feet and positioned vertically. One must turn the book so that it reads from top to bottom instead of from left to right, all the better to deal with height. The first chapter compares microscopic items from .0003 to .012 inches. The final chapter compares the heights of mountains up to 29,021 feet. The reader progresses from the height of algae to the height of Mount Everest from cover to cover. The text is clear and supports the multiple illustrations on each page, all of which are drawn to scale. In a unique feature, the author has placed the tallest thing from the previous chapter in the next chapter so as to provide continuity and contrast. The giraffe is the tallest when compared to man or to an ostrich, but it is dwarfed on the next page by the Saguaro cactus and a dinosaur. Graduated numbers measuring the items illustrated marks the margins of each chapter. Frequent sidebars provide additional information pertinent to height comparisons, such as the world's tallest towers and the highest waterfalls. The book's layout is enhanced by light blue or tan backgrounds that alternate per chapter and move in shading from dark to light from the bottom of the page to the top. Metric conversions are given in parentheses next to inches and feet. An index is the only back matter. The book will serve as an appropriate jumping off place for readers interested in further study of the tallest of manufactured and natural objects. 2004, Blackbirch Press/The Gale Group, Ages 8 to 12.
Editorials
Children's Literature
Each of the four books in this series is devoted to one form of measuring: speed, length, height and mass. In this book, height is examined in simple double page chapters, each titled with a range of inches or feet and positioned vertically. One must turn the book so that it reads from top to bottom instead of from left to right, all the better to deal with height. The first chapter compares microscopic items from .0003 to .012 inches. The final chapter compares the heights of mountains up to 29,021 feet. The reader progresses from the height of algae to the height of Mount Everest from cover to cover. The text is clear and supports the multiple illustrations on each page, all of which are drawn to scale. In a unique feature, the author has placed the tallest thing from the previous chapter in the next chapter so as to provide continuity and contrast. The giraffe is the tallest when compared to man or to an ostrich, but it is dwarfed on the next page by the Saguaro cactus and a dinosaur. Graduated numbers measuring the items illustrated marks the margins of each chapter. Frequent sidebars provide additional information pertinent to height comparisons, such as the world's tallest towers and the highest waterfalls. The book's layout is enhanced by light blue or tan backgrounds that alternate per chapter and move in shading from dark to light from the bottom of the page to the top. Metric conversions are given in parentheses next to inches and feet. An index is the only back matter. The book will serve as an appropriate jumping off place for readers interested in further study of the tallest of manufactured and natural objects. 2004, Blackbirch Press/The Gale Group, Ages 8 to 12.—Jacki Vawter, Ph.D.