There’s gold in them thar pages…not to mention rocks, ice, bling, and timeless yarns.
A trove of wonders natural and otherwise, from fabled caches to jaw-dropping sites and sights.
Long defines treasure broadly enough to include not only assorted glittering gems and golden hoards, but the Great Barrier Reef, moon rocks, and the lost library of Alexandria. His descriptive notes, which run from terse paragraphs for Russia’s Amber Room and China’s old, huge Da Ming Hun Yi Tu map to two pages for the Maya ruins of Tikal, are loosely grouped under rubrics such as “Sunken Treasures” and “Fossils.” They come with reasonably realistic painted pictures that likewise range in scale from images of a tiny copy of the Mona Lisa painted with an eyelash and a White mine owner holding a grapefruit-sized diamond to aerial views of Masada, Windsor Castle, and the Forbidden City. (There is also a world map on the center spread that serves as a supplemental index.) The pictures don’t pop the way the color-saturated photos in Rose Davidson’s Big Book of Bling (2019) and other like treasuries do, but what this lacks in visual dazzle it makes up for in scope—so that even dedicated armchair treasure seekers are likely to find new marvels to moon over.
There’s gold in them thar pages…not to mention rocks, ice, bling, and timeless yarns. (index, glossary, source list) (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-912920-50-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: What on Earth Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
An introduction to ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings. The authors begin with how archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut, then move back 3,000 years to the time of Thutmosis I, who built the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Finally they describe the building of the tomb of a later Pharaoh, Ramses II. The backward-forward narration is not always easy to follow, and the authors attribute emotions to the Pharaohs without citation. For example, “Thutmosis III was furious [with Hatshepsut]. He was especially annoyed that she planned to be buried in KV 20, the tomb of her father.” Since both these people lived 3,500 years ago, speculation on who was furious or annoyed should be used with extreme caution. And the tangled intrigue of Egyptian royalty is not easily sorted out in so brief a work. Throughout, though, there are spectacular photographs of ancient Egyptian artifacts, monuments, tomb paintings, jewels, and death masks that will appeal to young viewers. The photographs of the exposed mummies of Ramses II, King Tut, and Seti I are compelling. More useful for the hauntingly beautiful photos than the text. (brief bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7223-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The author of The Snake Scientist (not reviewed) takes the reader along on another adventure, this time to the Bay of Bengal, between India and Bangladesh to the Sundarbans Tiger Preserve in search of man-eating tigers. Beware, he cautions, “Your study subject might be trying to eat you!” The first-person narrative is full of helpful warnings: watch out for the estuarine crocodiles, “the most deadly crocodiles in the world” and the nine different kinds of dangerous sharks, and the poisonous sea snakes, more deadly than the cobra. Interspersed are stories of the people who live in and around the tiger preserve, information on the ecology of the mangrove swamp, myths and legends, and true life accounts of man-eating tigers. (Fortunately, these tigers don’t eat women or children.) The author is clearly on the side of the tigers as she states: “Even if you added up all the people that sick tigers were forced to eat, you wouldn’t get close to the number of tigers killed by people.” She introduces ideas as to why Sundarbans tigers eat so many people, including the theory, “When they attack people, perhaps they are trying to protect the land that they own. And maybe, as the ancient legend says, the tiger really is watching over the forest—for everyone’s benefit.” There are color photographs on every page, showing the landscape, people, and a variety of animals encountered, though glimpses of the tigers are fleeting. The author concludes with some statistics on tigers, information on organizations working to protect them, and a brief bibliography and index. The dramatic cover photo of the tiger will attract readers, and the lively prose will keep them engaged. An appealing science adventure. (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-07704-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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