Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.
Do you love to travel? Or do you dream of traveling without hassles? We love to explore the world from home with dreams of someday getting to see more of it. For now we like to explore with books and posters and such to see and learn about the world without leaving home. Candlewick Press has some products that makes this really fun and easy. The first three books are from a series called Panorama Pops. We got to explore The Louvre, Australia and Venice in this form. It was so much fun. These books are like pocket guides with pop-up pictures. The book is double sided since it folds out and has the pop-ups on both sides.
Inside of The Louvre (Source) |
The Louvre illustrated by Sarah McMenemy shares a bit about the museum as well as many pieces. Looking at this book, the reader gets to see three-dimensional pictures of things like the Louvre Pyramid, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa and so much more. It even includes a map of the museum.
For more posts about France check out: Easter in France, a Day in France, and Perrault's Cinderella.
Our next stop is Australia. Now this is a favorite place for us to explore since Hazel has a pen pal there. Australia is illustrated by Charlotte Trounce. This wonderful three-dimensional guidebook shows the reader Sydney Opera House, Parliament House, Twelve Apostles, St. Peter's Cathedral Adelaide, and Kakadu National Park as well as many more places! With the pop-ups, it is fun to explore and feel like you are there.
For more posts about Australia check out: The Land Down Under, Luke's Beach Day, The ABC's of Australian Animals, Greater Flamingos, and Wish I May, Wish I Might.
Next we get to "visit" Venice. Now with an Italian father and grandmother, Hazel learns much about Italy. It is another place we hope to visit some day. Venice is illustrated by Sarah McMenemy. In the pictures the reader can see the canals and the book features places like St. Mark's Square and Basilica, Rialto Bridge, Gallerie Dell' Accademia and many more places.
For more posts about Italy check out: Days of the Blackbird, Wish I May, Wish I Might, Princess Grace, Columbus Day--What Does It Mean To You?.
All three of these books and the others in the series are perfect for someone who wants to learn a bit more about the area perhaps before they visit or as mementos of a visit.
Similarly is New York by Josh Cochran. This is a fold out wall chart. It is wonderfully illustrated with Coney Island, the Statue of Liberty, and much more. In fact it has 80 New York City icons and on the back side the viewer can see some of the insides of the places. One can see the Knicks playing basketball at Madison Square Garden and the animals at the Bronx Zoo as well as the people in the subway tunnels. What a fun way to see New York City!!
For more posts on New York City, check out: Cinder-Elly, Celia Cruz, Quinceanara, and Craft It Up! Christmas Around the World.
Next we "visit" Egypt by exploring Senwosret's Pyramid in Who Built the Pyramid? by Meredith Hooper. This book introduces many people from the era of the King Senwosret. Each person describes his role in building the pyramid from Senwosret ordering pyramid to be built to Nesumontu the stone mason and Senwosret's son King Inyotef since he laid his father's body to rest. Then there are also Sasobek and the tomb robbers who broke in to the pyramids to steal the treasures buried with the kings. After the story of the characters and their roles there is information about Senwosret's pyramid and the robbers of it. There are photographs and it gives information about the construction and what it looks like now. It also gives historical information about Senwosret and some of the people mentioned in the book. This is a fun book to learn a bit about the pyramids and their construction.
For more posts about Egypt check out: Egyptian Date Cake, Exploring Egypt Part 2, Egyptian Math--Pyramids, Egyptian Cinderella, and Rimonah of the Flashing Sword.
Our final stop this trip around the world is Poland. The Glass Mountain: Tales from Poland by Jan Pienkowski and retold by David Walser has eight tales from Poland and a foreward by David Walser, Jan Pienkowski's story of childhood, and how to say words in the book in Polish and what they mean in English. The stories are wonderful. Hazel always loves this kind of book. We learn so much about the culture by reading the stories. These are fairy tales and some we have read before and some we had not. Definitely a fun book!
For more posts about Poland check out: Easter in Poland, The Way Meat Loves Salt, and Raisel's Riddle.
Candlewick Press publishes beautiful books of great quality. I hope you will check them out. For more reviews of Candlewick Press books check out: Picture Books Review and Once a Shepherd Review.