WORLD OF WONDERS

This collection of “world records” includes 88 striking photographs of a wide variety of nature's wonders. Originally published in France in 2009 as La Terre de tous les records, it presents a series of questions, upside-down answers and a short paragraph of explanation. “Who can see in 3-D?” (The mantis shrimp.) “What grows the fastest?” (The giant bamboo plant.) “What has the greatest number of stairs?” (The Giant’s Causeway in Ireland.) “Does the millipede really have 1,000 feet?” (No, but has more than 750.) Even child readers may wonder at the statement that “night lasts on average around twenty-three hours a day” on the South Orkney Islands (due to unusually heavy cloud cover). Fifty pictures are shown on the endpapers but not, alas, in the order they appear in the book. The questions are repeated in order at the end, but there is no index to the creatures or places shown. No sources are given for the information nor even for most of the beautifully reproduced photographs. This is a browsing book, heavy though not oversized, most suitable for the coffee table. (Nonfiction. 10 & up)