Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Book Review: Children's Atlas of God's World

It is time for another Moms of Master Books review!


This month, we are reviewing an amazing new book, the Children's Atlas of God's World.  This Master Books title, written by Craig Froman, was created in a partnership with My Father's World.

From the publisher:
A one-of-a-kind atlas that glorifies God, explores His creation, and honors His followers around the world!
  • Discover amazing wonders of God's creation, including longest rivers, tallest mountains, and more.
  • Examine interesting factual details about Christian explorers, missionaries, and history makers.
  • learn about geographic features and how these were formed by the Flood, plate tectonics, and volcanic activity - plus other details of God's amazing design.
The atlases that line the shelves of libraries and bookstores are filled with both evolutionary thought and secular worldviews. This atlas is packed with unique insights into Christian history makers and amazing landmarks. One will explore the design of ecosystems and biomes, great civilizations, and discoveries found around the world. The full-color, visually engaging book provides a dual purpose as an elementary curriculum and a valued reference tool.
Outline maps and facts regarding the seven continents are provided, as well as detailed maps and data of the featured countries. The comprehensive information provided for each focus country will bring to light their culture and traditions, holidays, exploration, legal system, and economic industries, as well as missionary accounts and other material to help children connect to people from regions around the globe.
What did we think?

Does that photo answer the question?

This book is fabulous.  The kids (even the big ones, who did not want to be photographed!) loved just looking through the book and just reading a snippet here, or looking at a photo there.

I appreciate that this covers every continent, and a smattering of countries for each. In a perfect world, of course, it would cover precisely the countries I want.  But if they included Sweden, then Norway would need to go, which would mean that it is lacking for someone who is delighted to have information about Norway.

I love that this atlas includes all kinds of information -- maps, photos, information about biomes, animals, all kinds of different places, and it also includes information about Christian History and Tradition.

In the Germany pages, for instance, there is the general map info, and all the statistics.  Plus there ins a paragraph on the autobahn, Gutenberg, Luther, and Bach on the first two-page spread.  The second set incudes lots of photos (a dirndl, Rothenburg, the Black Forest, a Christmas tree, Neuschwanstein, the Rhine Valley, sausages, and a German Shepherd) and information about all of that too, including Biome info on Rivers & Lakes.

Now, unfortunately, I have to point out that on one of the first pages, there was this map of the US:


The little green "C" flag marks a UNESCO World Heritage site (in this case,  Mesa Verde National Park) and the red number dots represent landmarks, rivers, etc.  The red 5 is Yellowstone, the 6 is Grand Canyon... but that 2?  The one solidly planted in Iowa?  Well, let me show you:


I'll confess that is the only obvious error I've spotted, and I'm sure most people wouldn't notice it (The Black Hills and Mount Rushmore are "somewhere in the middle"), but it was one of the first things I saw in the book, and it screamed out at me.

I still highly recommend this book, whether to use as a curriculum item, to just look through randomly, or as a fantastic reference for elementary aged kids.  This book is as bright and inviting as other kids' atlas I've seen, with the added bonus of including Christian events and not obsessing about millions of years.

Here is a great glimpse of the book:





You can go see what other Moms of Master Books have to say about Children's Atlas of God's World!


There is a Book and a Treat Facebook party coming up on July 23 (Tuesday) at 9 pm EDT where you could win cool prizes including (I assume) this title, something from Life Source Vitamins (the "treat" sponsor this month), among other things -- and discuss the book. 





Disclaimer:   I received this books for free from New Leaf Publishing Group as part of the Moms of Master Books program.  No other compensation was received.  The fact that I received complimentary products does not guarantee a favorable review.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great review :-) I saw marker 2 and scratched my head and thought I misread what marker 2 was for.. then I forgot to go back and check!(I'm a Mom of Master Books reviewer, but I am not on facebook).

Debra said...

Nice to meet you, Lindsay! I saw the marker and thought, "Oh! I wonder what we've missed!" as we drive through Iowa a couple times a year...

I figured it would be fun to read about it, and then visit on our next trip.