Explore Australia and Oceania.

Alison Mews is co-ordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Crabtree has a reputation for its well–designed informational books with excellent colour photographs and this series, exploring one continent per book, is no exception. Developed for beginning readers, these books give a broad overview of the landforms and other geographic features of each continent. Aided by a world map and images of the globe, each book defines the seven continents and five oceans and proceeds to place that continent in its hemisphere and relative position on earth. Political maps give the names and borders of the countries contained on a continent. Superb photographs highlight the climate, physical features, flora, and fauna as well as unique cultures of each region. Great care is taken to use simple terminology and three tourist destinations complete each exploration, with recognizable locations such as Machu Picchu or the Eiffel Tower chosen.

Explore Asia reveals that the largest continent on earth is divided into six regions. The 50 countries of Asia include most of Russia, the world’s largest country.

The other part of Russia is included in Explore Europe, which it is considered a separate continent even though it borders on Asia. The 46 countries include Iceland and the cultures vary widely from the cool northern countries to the warm holiday destinations on the Mediterranean.

The 54 countries in Explore Africa range from Sudan, the largest, to Seychelles, the smallest.

Explore North America includes the lands of Central America and the Caribbean islands, covering 24 countries in total.

Both the world’s largest rain forest and its longest mountain range are described in Explore South America.

That there are no countries on the Antarctic continent leads to different discussions in Explore Antarctica, including how countries try to protect it and how devastating global warming is for this land.

While Australia is a small continent by itself, the final book, Explore Australia and Oceania, includes the thousands of islands north and east of Australia.

Highly recommended.