Cover Image: The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid

The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid

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Member Reviews

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.)

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Atlas Obscura is the epicenter for curious travelers and the most adventurous kids can now circumnavigate the earths phenomenal locations with the turn of a page. A showstopping travel guide to the obscure!

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This is a YA version of Atlas Obscura. But it covers different locations than Atlas Obscura, so it's not just a more simplified version. Very well illustrated.

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I confess that I judged this book by the cover and did so incorrectly. I expected this to be more of a how to explore the world guide. I expected it to be a science based diving board that would set children scurrying off to look for adventure and new things to discover. I expected experiments and explanations and instead got encyclopedia like entries. This was mostly my fault as the blurb clearly should have lead me in another direction. I am trying to judge this book on what it is and not what I wished to be but I imagine there is some bias creeping in somewhere.

The book does what it says in the tin. It goes through countries and for each one highlights facts about them. It them discusses interesting things in the country. I could see how many of the concepts would engage a child's imagination. On the other hand, many of the topics were repetitive and remote and put off my adult need for utility. My guess is that when my daughter gets older she might like it, but she will probably need to be able to choose it on her own and read it herself to get the most out of it

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In the file that I received, it seems that some illustrations are not finished yet, but I get the concept of the book. I haven't read the adult version before, so I'm unable to compare the two versions. This book is colorful, with lovely illustration and nice page design. For each country (or place, because I saw Texas) two bizarre and weird locations are introduced, one page for each of it. Most were really, really interesting and I found myself start googling after I flipped through only a few pages. Young readers will definitely be intrigued.
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Overall: 4/5
Content: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Illustrations: 5/5
Page design: 4/5
Appealing: 4/5

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This beautifully-illustrated book brings the fascinating spots on the planet to young readers. Like the version for adults, the Explorer's Guide showcases places all over the world for their geological features, animal migrations, and human creations. Not only does do the brief articles spark wonder and fascination, but they also inform the reader in different countries and cultures. Great for picking up to flip through, or to read deeply and plan your travels!

-Review on Goodreads

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Hello,

I am so sorry for the inconvenience but this book doesn't interest me... It was a mistake to ask for it. And I prefer not to read it rather than to give a bad review...

Sorry again.

Regards

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An illustrated guide to the world's most amazing and crazy places, both natural and man made. The "guide" aspect gives little bits of information about the location, food, history and an obscure fact, which I enjoyed. The illustrations are a bit rough and didn't appeal to me at all unfortunately, which was disappointing since most of the places described are pretty incredible. However I think most kids will find something to interest them in this book, and learn something fun along the way!

Thank you Netgally and Workman Publishing Company for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

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A wonderful book about traveling the world through illustrations to some of the world's most intriguing places to visit-both natural and man-made. Absolutely a joy to beyond and read!

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The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid is an amazing adventure story…even for adults. I have seen the adult version of this book, but have never picked it up, but I will now. This book takes you around the world to many countries and gives you details on two unusual places to visit in each country. For each country you are shown on a globe where it is and given several facts. Each location has an illustration showing what the write up is about and the latitude and longitude coordinates are given so you can look the site up on Google Earth. (Although, all the coordinates in the advanced copy were the same for every location, I think this will be a great add on to a child reading this book.) My only other complaint about this book is I wish real life pictures were used for at least some of the locations instead of the illustrations; I ended up using Google Images to see many of the places mentioned.

The book is full of crazy facts and stories. Read this book to find out:
- Which country went to the Olympics as one country and came home as a different county?
- What was added to the mortar for the Great Wall to help hold it together?
- Which country was the first to allow women to vote in national elections?
- Where can you find a church made of trash?
- And many, many more…

This book will be a great gift for any adventurous kid or anyone who likes to read about adventures.

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I love Atlas Obscura! So happy to see a children's version. I'll definitely recommend this!

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"You've probably never visited a cemetery like the one in Trunyan." That's an understatement – you'll probably never have visited more than one or two of the contents in the whole book here, which makes it kind of mis-sold. It's not for "The World's Most Adventurous Kid", it's for anyone of any age, to find some quirky superlative places. Huge underground cities, abandoned theme parks, massive tree houses, glowing cave systems, and so on – all feature in these pages. Three paragraphs per topic is the rule, and the script has been finely judged for concision and common sense, if it does slip into the rhetorical too often. The artwork is fine for the young audience, although it does mean the book will cause no end of image searches online. Still, in being serious about the more trivial side of our planet's geography, this is a book that really works. Wonderful stuff. Four and a half stars.

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This is exactly the type of book I would have enjoyed when I was younger! I loved all the little random facts and how the entries related to each other throughout. Looking forward to seeing the finished product and buying it for nieces and nephews.

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Here is an incredibly beautiful book aimed at young adventurers, or even young adventurers at heart. It’s the sort of book that you will want to read with a torch under the bed covers, sprawled out in a treehouse, curled up in a window seat on a winter's afternoon or on the grass underneath the shade of a tree.

But, don’t wait for the right place. You are in the right place! This book should be read wherever you find yourself right now, at a bus stop, in the schoolyard or even at the kitchen table.

The text, beautifully written by Dylan Thuras and Rosemary Mosco unfurls your imagination over 100 pages of quirky, curious places and facts hidden in the nooks and crannies of our amazing planet. At times achingly poetic descriptions of watching sunsets rise over distant forests, or lowering yourself into the centre of the earth, sits alongside thoughtful questions to ponder alongside scientific facts and details.

You navigate country to country on a global romp, magically illustrated with sketches and some beautiful coloured artwork that bring an element of comic and manga epic-ness to real places, through illustrator Joy Ang.

You are encouraged to emerge from the pages with eyes wide open to the possibility of discovering this fascination around you. Be prepared to find your own way! Reading this book reminds me of the thrill of the first time reading a choose your own adventure book when I was a child.

For me, what makes this book stand out, is that as readers, we are challenged to find and connect the elements of wonder in the places around us now. Although the book contains just snippets of the world found in the borders and margins of places, the writers demonstrate that any two places in the world can be connected, so that you can traverse in thought from place to place.

There are no photographs of the destinations included, but with the related Atlas Obscura website to explore, photographs really aren’t needed in the book.

This is a book to read if you are a kid, aimed at ages 8-12, but also a book to read if you forgot or refused to grow up.

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Unfortunately, this book couldn't totally convince me. On the one hand. there are amazing places in it that not only kids will long to see but most of the illustrations are rather rough, more eye-catchers than real representations of the places and most of them don't invite to browse and linger on the pages.

The descriptions are enticing and make you want to visit those fascinating and intriguing places but - most of them are simply not doable for kids, not even the most adventurous ones. It's always a question of opportunity and money. Those places are far to exotic, no kid could go there without its parents and not many parents have the money to go there. That wouldn't be a problem if the list of items to take and so on at the beginning wouldn't suggest that this is a book that leads you to places that you can explore. You could do that, sure, but you have no chance to get there.
If there were other illustrations or photos, this could be some bucket list for years to come but ...see above: not with this kind of illustrations and not with this list at the beginning.

Sure, some places are doable but most of them aren't. I think that most kids would prefer to have more places in it that they can actually explore than those (truly amazing, just saying) others that are unreachable.
The journey takes us from Iceland to Venezuela via Antarctica, Japan, Russia, Africa, Australia, China and all over Europe. I think that it might be rather frustrating as the descriptions make you want to pack and just go there but reality being a beast and such, most of us have to resign ourselves to dreams of going there but - well, back to the illustrations.

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Very well done selection of geographical, cultural, architectural and natural facts from around the world, explained succinctly and featuring beautiful and engaging illustrations.

This is a must read for young readers interested in the world, and would also be a very tempting introduction to the peculiarities of the world for any reluctant readers or those who are studying geography.

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I loved the adult version of this book, which took readers to some of the quirkiest, most bizarre locations in the world, so I was thrilled to see a version for younger readers. Like it’s big sister, this book is filled with descriptions of odd and creepy places, with colorful illustrations that will grab a young reader’s attention. This is going on my must purchase book for my library’s 2018 -2019 budget

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I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is the book every young (and old) explorer needs to have! The book is packed with wonderful destinations around the world. For every country mentioned there are two interesting or unique places to visit, and also some basic information about the said country. All information are given in an interesting, enthusiastic way, that captures the attention of the reader.

"You are already somewhere amazing".

This is an incredibly good book for more reasons than one. It certainly spikes the reader's curiosity, whether a child or an adult. Moreover, it shows that all places are wonderful, and you can find something exciting wherever you are!

But wait...it doesn't end here!There is also a very clever packing list with all the essential items for a young explorer. At the back of the book, you can also find useful tips about your adventures!

Definitely recommended for children and adults alike, this is the book that will awaken the explorer in you. Pick up a map and explore all the wonders you'll find in here!

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