This book belongs to the Usborne Beginners series and tells us about our versatile planet Earth. We can read about high mountains, volcanoes, rivers, deserts etc. The most interesting are underground caves, where we can find stalactites (which hang from the ceiling) and stalagmites (which grow from the cave floor). They are built up over thousands of years from tiny grains of rock.
Deep water is also fascinating. In the very deep ocean, only few creatures can live, but many of them are very interesting. For example some deep-sea fish glow in the dark to attract smaller fish.
Our planet is quite extraordinary – the Mariana Trench is about 11,000 m deep underwater. Angel Falls in Venezuela is the tallest waterfall – with a height of 979 meters. Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth – the lowest temperature of −89 °C has been measured there.
At the end of the book, there is a glossary of more difficult words and websites to visit. In addition, there are small pictures about other books in the series.
The book is illustrated with amazing pictures and photos, my favorite are the ones in the section about underground caves.
“Planet Earth” will be interesting for children, who like nature and for those who are learning English.
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Published: Usborne, 2007
Illustrated: Andy Tudor
Leonie Pratt “Planet Earth” – check availability in Tallinn’s libraries from e-catalogue ESTER
Katrin Antonenko
Department of Literature in Foreign Languages