Our house is filled with books; children’s books, adult books, reference books. Much of our fact checking has now been relegated to the computer – often the quickest way to answer those inevitable questions that pop up: Do birds have teeth? How do fish breathe through their gills? Why is the sky blue?

Still, I think there is something to be said for having reference books lying around the house. I remember as a child leafing through The Time-Life Series of books and volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, looking at the pictures and reading any entry that caught my eye. So, we have lots of children’s reference books lying around.

One of the most important to have in our rapidly globalizing world is, I think, an atlas. I like this one from Dorling Kindersley, the well respected publisher of children’s books. This atlas features over 1000 photographs and child friendly text. Each continent is featured in a two page spread and divided by country making the organization of the world a bit easier to understand.

Updated for the new millennium, this atlas is colorful enough to interest the youngest child and packed with enough facts to make it a worthy addition to a school-age child’s library.