Reviewed by annieb123 on
50 Maps of the World is an atlas of countries of the world presented with lots of trivia and timelines and highlights for each country represented. Due out 1st Sept 2020 from Quarto on their Wide Eyed Editions imprint, it's 112 pages and will be available in hardcover format.
This is a fun, information dense, graphically appealing (but very busy) atlas. Each of the maps shows an outline map of the country (or countries - Scandinavia is taken together, for example) in question, noteworthy cities, landmarks, cultural tidbits, and a timeline in a highlighted text box. There's another highlighted text box for each entry with key facts such as Capitals, languages, currency, two letter country codes, national birds and flowers, and populations. There are small cameo insets with notable figures from each country's history. The countries themselves are arranged geographically by continent, starting with Europe and ending with the Antipodes.
The authors have included a hunt & find activity search at the end of the book as well as a comprehensive index and an abbreviated glossary.
There's a lot to like here. I would recommend it for classroom/library use and it would also make a nice selection for home library or homeschool use. I'm not sure how long it'll remain current (as the author's state in their introduction, countries change continually), but it's a nice kid's atlas with appealing art. I was impressed that the authors managed to cover the 1994 Rwandan genocide in an age-appropriate manner.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 29 July, 2020: Finished reading
- 29 July, 2020: Reviewed