Title:

Great Mountain Ranges of the World: The Rocky Mountains

Author:

Charles Maynard

Illustrator:

Photographs

Where I Shelve it:

Geography>Landforms>Mountains

Fiction/Non-Fiction?

Nonfiction

Review:

The photographs in this book are lovely. The book itself did an overall good job of explaining the Rocky Mountains to kids in a digestible way. There are clear heading pages about different aspects of the mountain range. Which I think is really great if you’re looking for something specific, like the highest peak or the animals who live there.

There were a couple of things that me cringe a little. But, with the perspective of this having been intended for a public school environment I can take those with a grain of salt and value the information itself for what it is. The two things are, and I’ll list them again under content considerations, it uses “billions of years” on one page. For our family structure, that’s not a huge deal. We just talk about how that’s a guess and no one actually knows for sure. But I know some of you are more young-earth minded and that could be a bigger deal. The second is that it over-simplifies the relationship between Native Americans and settlers.

Both of those concerns appear only once. It would be really easy to skim or self-edit as you read. The rest of the content is good enough that it won’t deter me from keeping this one on the shelf. But, I don’t know that I would run out and buy it.

Kid Thoughts:

They all had one or two facts that they really soaked in and seemed fascinated by. While I was reading, they were a little more fidgety than normal. I think it was perhaps a little more boring for them. But then again, it’s a purely informational book, it’s not intended as entertainment.

Content Considerations:

“Billions of years” used in relation to the forming of the mountain range. Oversimplified view of the relationship of Native Americans and settlers.

Possible Categories:

North America, Mountain Ranges, Geography, Landforms, Informational

Worth the Shelf Space?

I got it for free and I don’t have any other books devoted to the Rocky Mountains, so for me, yes, I’ll keep it. But if you already have a book or two on them, or are looking to pay full price, I don’t think I’d grab it. But if you want to check it out from the library or you run across it cheaply at a thrift store, it might be useful to have.