Atlas of Adventures

The world is full of adventures, says this large, appealing and colourfully illustrated book, as it invites readers to follow two young adventurers on a journey round the globe. Organised by continent, each of 92 double page spreads introduces a city or region, and illustrates some of the amazing things you’ll find there, or some of the exciting things you could do. These range from gazing at the Northern Lights through the glass roof of an igloo in the small village of Kakslauttanen in Finland, to joining the macaques in the hot springs, or onsens in the Jigokudani Monkey Park in Nagano, Japan. There are written introductions to each country, but pages are also scattered with snippets of text, a mix of interesting facts and quirky details that succeed in giving a true flavour of each region, and which will pique children’s interest in the places depicted and in travel generally. Lucy Letherland’s stylish illustrations fill the pages with action and detail, making them a delight to explore. The separate section at the end, which encourages children to go back through the book, Where’s Wally?-style, to find details they might have missed, feels almost redundant: children will be doing this of their own accord.

There are picture depictions of the continents and useful inserts showing their position on the globe; similarly, picture roundels on each spread position the featured destinations both on their continent and the globe. It’s not comprehensive of course, but that’s not what is intended. What this book sets out to do, and what it does very successfully, is inspire readers with a sense of the diversity of our planet and its wonders, both man-made and natural. It also provides a true sense of what travel is for, as we see those young adventurers meeting local people and joining in with them in a wide range of different activities.