Maples and Fiddleheads

Sometimes an author just needs to come up with a good topic and as the saying goes, they have me at hello. Before Columbus: Early Voyages to the Americas by Don Wulffson is one of those books. I love maps, travel and people who are willing to abandon what they know for the chance at greater things. Explorers, especially ones from really long ago, fit the bill perfectly. Some of the voyages Wulffson describes, such as the Viking expeditions, are now fairly familiar, but others were completely new to me. I had never heard of the Irish Celi  Dei, China’s Hoei-Shin or Wales’ Prince Madoc before. Wulffson does a really nice job explaining the circumstances around and the evidence of each voyage. The book works well as a whole, but individual sections would also work well with a variety of history units.

For me personally an excellent measure of a good children’s nonfiction title is whether or not I follow it up with a more in-depth adult title on the same topic. Currently I’m deep into 1421 by Gavin Menzies to learn more about Zheng He’s incredible expedition.

Sylvie Bednar has put together a fabulous book of flags. Flags of the World uses vibrant colours and white space to show off the flags to full effect. They appear in three different sizes, but all are clearly visible and most are full or quarter-page. One of my favourite aspects of the book is that as many small countries like Kiribati and Bhutan get full page spreads as world powers such as the United States.

Within continents, flags with similiar patterns and colours are grouped together.These groupings help readers learn about interconnections between countries and cultures such as the pan-Slavic grouping. In some ways it is an uneven presentation as not all flags are accompanied with information about the country and symbols of the flag, but the information that is presented is clear, concise and sure to grab the attention of geography lovers. An excellent resource for teachers, libraries and a feast for geography buffs!