The World's Smallest Country and Other Geography Records

K-Gr 2—Using limited vocabulary, simple sentences, and informative full-page color photographs, each book lists one amazing fact per spread. Smallest Country looks at maps, cities, countries, and landmarks. In Hottest Place, information about the hottest, coldest, and driest places is given in both metric and English measures. In Longest Snake, record-breaking animal achievements in the air, on land, and in the sea are explored, e.g., "Sailfish are the fastest fish in the ocean. They reach speeds of 68 mph (109 kph)." The choice of records in all of the books is haphazard-the smallest country is noted but not the largest; the longest snake but not the shortest. No specifics are given for many of the items, so verification is difficult, and children interested in finding more information would have a hard time with simple research. The texts are dry, using many numbers but few explanations. The suggested website for safe research sites is an exercise in frustration, and the 13-digit access code may be beyond most very young children's abilities. Useful as browsing material and for early and reluctant readers interested in unusual facts.—Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, formerly at Trinity-Pawling School, Pawling, NY