DK First Atlas: A First Reference Guide to the Countries of the World

This is an excellent and inviting book for children who want to learn about world geography. It gives an overview of the different types of maps and atlases, topography, climates, and oceans. Also contained are illustrations of flags of the world. Each region contains several beautiful photographs and illustrations. These, along with charts, and the large, easy-to-read text, provide information about wildlife, food, natural resources, agriculture, architecture, monuments, landscape and terrain, sports, music, typical clothing, and interesting facts. The globe is on the introductory page of each region. This is particularly helpful because the region being explored is colored red, making it easy for kids to visualize where in the world they are looking. There is also a compass on the introductory pages for each region. An earlier reviewer suggested that people were half-naked. There are no photos of anyone that exposes what would normally be covered by a bathing suit. The one exception to this is the photo of sumo wrestler. He is wearing his mawashi, the thick belt that doesn't cover much of his behind. I would not hesitate to use this book with children. Even young teens enjoy looking at this visual feast for the eyes and picking up tidbits of information.

I'm generally impressed by this book as a resource for teaching young children about the world, but even the US edition I have strikes me as very much oriented toward the British world view. The main thing that bothers me is that the main thing they consider interesting about Ireland is... Guinness beer! Also, the "Southern Ocean" is included, which I didn't think was recognized by US schools. Unless something changed recently, I always thought there were four oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic.