Continents of the World

Continents of the World is part of the “Quick-Reference Atlases” series by Crabtree Publishing. Like other books in this series, Continents of the World is, to quote the books’ back covers, filled with “high-interest” tidbits of information and “eye-catching images”. Unfortunately, the claim that “useful maps and text provide readers with easy-to-access” information is less accurate.

The series follows the standard nonfiction format, including a table of contents, glossary, index, and a short list of books and websites with further information on the topics. A list of countries and capital cities is included at the back of the book.

Although Continents of the World is organized by continents, the organization is unnecessarily obscure. One chapter is “Antarctica and the Arctic”. Small maps on the one page for this topic are labeled “Antarctica/ Continent: Antarctica”, and “Arctic/ Continents: Asia, Europe, and North America”. There are chapters for “Africa”, and “South America”, but Europe is split into “Northern Europe”, “Western Europe”, “Eastern Europe”, and “Southern Europe”. Other continents are similarly divided.

In very small type at the left-hand corner of each double page spread, there is the word “Continent” followed by the name of a continent. If you notice the label, you will know which continent the countries are in, except for the chapter on the “Russian Federation” which is labeled “Europe and Asia”. The text explains that the “west of the country is located in Europe, while the east lies in Asia”, but the map does not show where the continent of Europe ends and the continent of Asia begins. This book is part of the “Quick-reference Atlases – Continents of the World”. Not good enough.

I have several other concerns about Continents of the World, most of which are probably the result of trying to present too much information in too small a format. Throughout the book, some of the text size and the photo size is so small that it is difficult to read or examine details. Compounding the problem, some of the text is printed over a dark coloured background.
Another major concern is the Eurocentric nature of the content. While Europe is divided into four sections covering six pages, and “Canada” and “United States of America” each have a double-page spread, “Africa” and “South America” only have a double-page spread for each entire continent.

Continents of the World does include some colourful photos with tidbits of information that may suit students who are browsing for a general interest book about world trivia, but if you are looking for a research book, you can do much better than this.