Land and Sea Maps

Children's Literature - Natalie Gurr

Land and sea maps are used for traveling and finding specific information about geography. Climate maps, economic maps, and road maps are just a few of the land and sea maps featured in the book. A picture and descriptive paragraph make it easy to visualize and understand each type of map. A section about creating sea maps describes how sea depth is found, how temperature is mapped, and information on sea lanes. As in all books in the "Map Smart" series, map terminology is identified and explained. Maps from all over the world are used to explain information. Websites and practical application activities are provided to reinforce concepts. The end of the book includes a "Guess the Symbols" game, pages about reading different types of community maps, an activity for creating a community map, a map quiz, and a glossary. Students will enjoy the interactive activities and bright visuals. Recommended for teachers planning units on mapping and geography. Reviewer: Natalie Gurr

Children's Literature - Jean Boreen

This text is part of the "Starting Geography" series specifically focused on introducing young readers to geographic concepts or the influence of items or concepts we use in daily life that is impacted by geography. This particular book, with its focus on transportation, contains eleven chapters that begin with a definition of transportation, transportation by track, focusing on then moves into specific types of road-related structures like bridges and tunnels and how long-distance truckers use the nation's roadways. The author then moves into a consideration of travel by track—trams, monorails, and train—by water—differentiating between small and large boats—and by air. Subsequent sections focus on private versus public transportation and how to plan trips that can be fun and planet-friendly. Each section has an activity or experiment attached to it that encourages children to use skills from math, science, art, and language arts to better understand some aspect of weather or geography. Well-chosen photos and graphics throughout further explain the concepts highlighted in every two-page section. This book attempts to provide a broad informational baseline for young readers, and it generally succeeds, although some students may be slightly put off by how much text there is on every two page spread. Regardless this is a good series to help students understand basic concepts in each topic under study. Reviewer: Jean Boreen, Ph.D.