EXPLOR-A-MAZE

From ship to shore, readers follow maps and mazes to trace the routes of an array of famous explorers—Buzz Aldrin, Roald Amundsen, Neil Armstrong, Leif Eriksson, Vasco da Gama, and Marco Polo among them. Lands to settle and goods to trade spark the impetus for ten chronological journeys of discovery across a millennium; two spreads are devoted to each explorer, introduced with an interactive maze activity that parallels the idea of the unknown, uncharted territory, complete with obstacles hindering the traveler. Readers must navigate sea monsters and treacherous rocks in the time of Ferdinand Magellan, collect plant specimens for Captain James Cook, and avoid angry natives and coral reefs en route with Christopher Columbus. A flip of the page presents a brief capsule of the explorer's historic route in a series of numbered paragraphs that correspond with points on the map, including an answer key specific to each maze. Bright, eye-catching illustrations feature sea-faring themes as well as indigenous flora and fauna. The glib, oversimplified approach (Eriksson was banished from Norway for ``killing someone,'' and ``also thrown out of'' Iceland) makes this less useful for in-depth research and report writing, but attractive to armchair explorers. (Nonfiction. 8-12)