Wonders of the World by Isobel Otter

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Ill. by Margaux Carpenter. Little Tiger, 2018. ISBN 9781848577251
The sub-title of this book is An interactive tour of marvels and monuments and indeed, that it what it is from cover to cover as it explores the wonders of both the ancient and the modern world.
More than 2000 years ago, Antipater of Sidon, a Greek writer identified seven must-see sites of the small world around Greece (world exploration was limited and the Mediterranean was seen as the centre of a flat world) and these became known as the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World", still referred to in books and quiz shows as such. However, in 2000 AD a new list was compiled from the popular votes from a list of 200 man-made landmarks and these are considered to be the seven wonders of the modern world.
All 14 are explored in this colourful, interactive lift-the-flap book beginning with a world map showing their locations and whether they are ancient or modern selections. Each has an illustration of the building, an introduction to it and then several pertinent facts that are often hidden under a flap or other device demanding interaction.
While Australia has no entry in the man-made wonders, it does feature in the list of natural wonders on the final endpapers, which are presided over by a magnificent pop-up Paricutin Volcano, the youngest volcano in the world.
As well as perhaps laying the seeds for future travel, this is one of those books that groups of young boys love to pore over and discuss, a behaviour that appears to be crucial to their reading development as they seek to discover the wonderful and the weird and out-do each other with their discoveries. It is worth having in your collection for that alone!
Barbara Braxton

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