I was unable to download and read this book before it expired, so I'm unable to give an honest review of it.

The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid by Dylan Thomas and illustrated by Rosemary Mosco is always a hit in my classroom. Students love the illustrations and the random facts from countries around the world. Facts are easily accessible and engaging.

A fun book that kids will love to flip through, reminiscent of DK's non-fiction compendiums but with more indie flair.

I had to purchase a copy for my classroom library. It is such a stunning book that students of all ages have been drawn to it and leafed through its pages.

Did you know that the marvellous word ‘chocolate’ came from Mexico’s Aztec language?

Can you imagine living in Mongolia and having someone bring a library to you on the back of a camel?

Whether you want to swim in a lake full of jellyfish, enjoy a swing ride in a cooling tower that’s part of an amusement park in the grounds of a nuclear power plant or take a zip line to school, this book has got you covered.

Because of my love for all things weird and wonderful I particularly enjoyed reading the obscure facts about each country you visit in this book. My favourite was “Iceland has the world’s only school dedicated to the study of elves.”

Although this book has added many experiences to my Bucket List, topping it is a visit (or maybe several hundred) to Coromoto’s Ice Cream Shop in Mérida, Venezuela. “About 60 of the 900 varieties are on sale at any given time.” I’m not sure whether I’d actually enjoy spaghetti flavoured ice cream, but I’d love to be able to say I tried it.

Next you’ll find me in an Austrian library. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (the Austrian National Library) in Vienna has secret passages hidden behind bookcases! I don’t need any more information to sell me on this destination.

The writing style in this book felt like I was listening to a tour guide. At times I can find writing that directly addresses the reader annoying but it worked for me here. I can imagine a young reader trying to picture ten million shrieking bats flying above them in Zambia, then feeling reassured that they’re not on the menu because these bats only eat fruit.

Using size comparisons with objects kids are already familiar with was a great choice. It’s much easier to imagine how huge a blue whale is when you discover it’s longer than two city buses. There’s a good blend of history, culture, geography and mythology in this collection of interesting and quirky destinations.

Joy Ang’s cover illustration was one of the things that drew me to this book in the first place and I really liked the details she incorporated and the different perspectives shown; sometimes I felt I was standing looking across a vista and other times I was granted a bird’s eye view. While I enjoyed seeing all of the people and animals illustrated, some landscapes felt unfinished, e.g., Antarctica’s Blood Falls looked blurry and not that interesting to me, whereas photos of this location made me want to visit. If I read this book with a child I’m sure we’d be Googling photos of each of the locations to continue our exploration.

I managed to snag ‘Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders’ on Kindle when it was recently discounted and am even more interested in reading it now.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

I'm a big fan of the quirky and weird, especially when it comes to trivia. Info about a volcano within a volcano? Sign me up! This book introduces young readers to wonders of the world, be they naturally occurring or human constructions. It's built around a great structure too. Each wonder is paired with a similar attraction on another continent. Thus the reader sees not only what makes each place unique, but also the things that tie them together. This is the sort of book you can leaf through repeatedly, finding new things every time.

Oh, this is such a wonderfully fun book.

And, honestly, it's as much fun for adults as it is for kids.

You get references to some of the most interesting places in the world - some eerie, some exotic, and some just plain full of adventure!

Definitely will inspire a sense of wanderlust in any reader!

Simply Excellent!

As a fan of the adult Atlas Obscura, I was very excited to learn they were making a children's edition. It did not disappoint! It's packed with places kids (and adults) will find fascination, along with many bite-sized facts for the budding trivia buffs. I also enjoyed the illustrations. Highly recommended!

In Thuras and Mosco's Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide to the World there are 30 different country/states with two special sites given for each. From Iceland to Venezuela, Zambia to Cambodia, and all the places in between, there are wondrous locations just waiting for you to discover them. Some locations are natural- Iceland's blue whale migration spots, Mexico's Chicxulub Crater, and Antarctica's Blood Falls. Other points of interest are more man-made- there is Pripyat in the Ukraine, New Zealand's Spacecraft Cemetery, and Wyoming's Smith Mansion. Yet others blend natural and man-made for truly unique wonders such as the Korowai Treehouses of Indonesia, Peru's Nazca Lines, and Japan's Aogashima Island, better known as Cat Island. Each country has introductory information such as location, and one or two interesting facts, and each location has specific map coordinates for the intrepid explorer to visit these places in their own if they wish. The second site of each country segues seamlessly into the first site of the next country. Root bridges in India lead to grass bridges in Peru. Peru's Nazca lines resemble giant glyphs in Australia, and so on. This a fun read. I subscribe to Atlas Obscura, and always enjoy the strange and unusual information provided in the emails. This is a perfect addition to any fan of Atlas Obscura, or for the young explorer. Highly recommended

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Workman Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a well put together book for kids about interesting places around the world. I especially enjoy how the book moves from one country to another using a similar landmark in the next country. This is a great book for browsing and also for reading front to back. I will purchase one for my reference section and one for circulation.

“The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid” is an amazing junior version of “Atlas Obscura,” the #1 New York Times bestseller with more than 600,000 copies in print in its first year. This book for younger readers introduces children to 100 weird-but-true places on earth — a wonderful and thrilling journey! 5/5

Pub Date 18 Sep 2018

Thanks to Workman Publishing Company and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#TheAtlasObscuraExplorersGuideForTheWorldsMostAdventurousKid #NetGalley

This book features facinating points of interest all over the world. For example, the authors take the reader on an adventure that goes from being lowered into a dormant volcano to wading in a pool at the top of a rushing waterfall. This is also a book that allows the reader to experience places that a lot of people will never visit. Although I selected this book for my kids to enjoy, I learned a lot myself. I found it interesting to find out about unique places of interest that are geographically nearby that I didn’t even know about. The illustrations are phenomenal. There were a few pages that dealt with scientific theories which I didn’t agree with, but overall it was an engaging book.

I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review.

For adventure-loving children this version of the popular adult Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer offers a look at some fascinating places around the globe. Progressing from place to place by a linkage of ideas, Thuras zig-zags around the planet, offering children a bit of information about some place fantastic on every continent. Joy Ang's colorful illustrations are beautiful complements for each locale selected. Places featured range from the glowworm caves of New Zealand to the seed vault on Svalbard, the Blood Falls of Antarctica to the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada's Northwest Territories, and from the Devil's Swimming Pool in Namibia to the Everlasting Lightning Storm over Lake Maracaibo. With a packing list, alternate routes that suggest still more curious places, and further reading suggestions, this is a fun book for children ages eight to twelve.

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from Workman Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid takes readers around the world to 100 fascinating locations. I loved how each country was linked to the one following it by the type of attraction found there: a waterfall, acrobatic goats, and so on. The illustrations are delightful and I loved the overarching theme: Get outside and explore.

My one complaint about this book is how it mentions the unfinished Superconducting Super Collider in Waxahachie, Texas. As a Dallas native, I am not too far away from Waxahachie. The book describes Waxahachie as being in the middle of a desert. Waxahachie is nowhere near a desert.

A new edition of fascinating real places all over the world written and illustrated just for kids. The book highlights natural phenomena, man-made sights, and occasional rare animal habitats for armchair or future travelers who like things a little more abnormal or obscure.

I have read the original Atlas Obscura and I like that they did a new one for kids specifically. There are some fascinating, weird, and wonderful places to visit on this planet but not 100% of the original book’s locations were kid-friendly. These are much more kid-friendly and there are even some things that appear in here that didn’t make it into the adult book (and which adults might be interested in adding to their bucket list to see too). I was a little disappointed at first that whereas the adult book uses all photographs this one uses all illustrations, but then I realized that many of these locations probably wouldn’t photograph spectacularly or might be hard to get a photograph of so the illustrations were a good move. The illustrations also make it easier to segue between topics (the spreads manage to work two places together in some way) and make the book bright and colorful. I was impressed by the way they set this book up for flow. The two locations on each spread are in the same area/country, and then at the bottom of the right hand page is a footnote linking the topic on that page to the next place their page turn will take them. The footnotes also include distances between them and how long a certain method of transportation would take. It was a clever way to help keep the book exciting (you never know where you’re headed next) but at the same time ensure that the book flows, and it also helping readers better grasp just how big this Earth is. Probably the best thing about this book is how many countries it visits, and how many of those countries are not necessarily on the top of people’s travel lists. Whether readers are looking for additions to their bucket list or just love curious tidbits and armchair travel, this will take them all over the world and open their eyes to many, many things and places they never knew about before. Highly recommended for middle grade on up.

Note on content: Marree Man is one of the locations mentioned, the illustration shows a reproduction of the original which is a naked man drawn in the ground. Six of the locations have to do with mummies/bones: two are catacombs (one has remains displayed), one is a cemetery that doesn’t use burial, one was mummies formed by a kind of ritual suicide, one is a collection of animal and human mummies, and one are bones from what seems to have been a natural disaster.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a fan of the adult version of Atlas Obscura and was excited to see that children will now have access to the fascinating and unusual locales across the world. Thank you to NetGalley for an electronic advanced review copy.

The vivid illustrations and unique information will make this a book that kids won't be able to resist.

A perfect draw for reluctant readers and kids who are looking for story setting ideas or who just want to escape to worlds unknown.

I'm awaiting my copy that is scheduled to arrive September 18 and will share with my tutoring students. (I could only finish half of it because of the tedious effort required to read this electronic version.)

This kind of has a Ripley’s Believe it or Not vibe to it, which is fine, but that genre is already covered by ubiquitous publications and this feels like just another addition to the books Ripley’s puts out for kids like every other month. I question why some of these locations would have made the list, but to each their own. I also dispute that anyone off the street would be able to walk in to some of them. Additionally, as a major point, I would have liked the book to have actual photographs of these locations rather than cartoonish drawings of them.

If anything will get a child out and exploring it is "The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's most Adventurous Kid". This book is filled with unique destinations all around the world. Each site has a dedicated layout with coordinates, an illustration, and information about why you should see that site. This book is so convincing that the page about Antartica kind of had me reconsidering my winter hater's pledge to never travel there!

I love the Atlas Obscura website so I was thrilled to find this children's book! I would absolutely purchase this book as a gift for a child over any toy. Dreams are priceless, and sites to adventure to are fuel for imagination.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will be reviewing this book on my blog (www.readingrumpus.com) closer to it's September publication date. I like to write about good books in a timely way as I promote on Twitter, etc... and want friends/colleagues to be able to purchase if so inclined. That said.... this children's version of the excellent adult book was just as engaging and fun. I would recommend this for both library and classroom purchase as I think many students will greatly engage with it.

A Kid's "What If?" Pillow Book

If you're looking for adventure, why not go big? This is a huge fantasy/adventure book that also happens to cover real, not imaginary, places.

I may get to go with Mom and Dad on a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon, but we probably won't be rappelling down the inside of an extinct volcano in Iceland. Or at least not soon. That's where this book comes in. 47 countries, all the continents, this is a buffet of possibilities. You can always dream big, and just knowing that these places actually exist is a treat.

The tone of the book shifts around - sometimes it's more childish and sometimes it's more adult - but it's always pretty smart. There are no Dummies-style jokes and the patter never gets dopey. Some of the destinations are treated lightly and without much detail or context, but this is clearly meant to be a high energy survey, not a travel guide. There are some sidebars and lots of factoids, including odd but interesting bits about the various host countries, which adds further interest. The book is illustrated with drawings, which is colorful but not the same as having photos.

So, this struck me as a great invitation for a young adventurer to dream, and then to further explore, (Google, Wikipedia, local library, MapQuest), whatever seemed most cool. It's a big world and a small world, and this is a good place to start learning about it.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)