Lizards Weird and Wonderful - Hardcover

Margery Facklam is the author of many award-winning nonfiction books for children, including two collaborations with her son Paul: Creepy, Crawly Caterpillars; and The Big Bug Book.

Gr. 5-8. Each book in the Around the World series looks at what was happening across nations during a particular era. History is usually taught as a linear progression within one civilization, but this broadened approach makes connections around the globe. Each book divides its subject geographically into four parts--Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas--and then spotlights two, three, or four civilizations. For example, 800 presents chapters on the Vikings; the Abbasid Empire, centered in Baghdad; the Golden Empire of Ghana; and the Maya. Too short to do justice to entire civilizations, the chapters often focus on more tightly defined aspects of the subjects. Some of chapters in 1500, for instance, look at the art of Florence and the conquest of the Aztec by Cortez. This well-designed series features many color reproductions of paintings, prints, and sculptures as well as photographs of sites and artifacts. Though each book moves quickly from place to place in an around-the-world tour, together the chapters create a stimulating series of impressions representing a variety of cultures. These may fill in some of the blanks between more traditional, curriculum-targeted history books. Each book ends with a chronology of world events, a glossary, a list of books and articles for further reading, and an annotated list of Web sites. Diane Foote
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