(3) K-3 Time Goes By series. This creative and entertaining book guides readers through the construction of a school from start to finish. Detailed aerial illustrations depict the same scene as the seasons progress, including such activities as digging a foundation, laying concrete, and painting; spot art set alongside the spreads' borders encourages readers to find specific items and helps them track the calendar (four months are puzzlingly absent). Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) K-3 Time Goes By series. This creative and entertaining book guides readers through a year on a farm. Detailed aerial illustrations depict the same scene as the seasons progress, including such activities as lambing in early spring, haymaking in summer, and fall's harvest; spot art set alongside the spreads' borders encourages readers to find specific items and helps them track the calendar (four months are puzzlingly absent). Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Fast Forward series. Illustrated by Peter David Scott. One hundred and sixty million years ago a Mamenchisaurus hatched in the region that is now China. This volume uses dated thumb tabs to follow the life of the creature from before he is hatched until his death. Subsequent layouts, dated millions of years later, show the dinosaur's fossilized skeleton being excavated and eventually displayed in a museum. The text is flat, but readers will appreciate the detail in the color illustrations. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) K-3 Fast Forward series. Illustrated by Peter Dennis. Double-page spreads trace the evolution of a pyramid over time. With thumb tabs indicating the date of each activity, workers prepare a level site in 2500 B.C.E., lay blocks on stone in 2485 B.C.E., and entomb the pharaoh a dozen years later. Subsequent layouts depict the arrival of Europeans in 1789 and a look at the site today. The text is flat, but readers may appreciate the detail in the otherwise unexceptional color illustrations. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Elisabetta Ferrero & Gary Hincks. Harris uses crowded double-page spreads to present information about ocean layers from seashore to ocean trenches, beginning with a helpful cross section of a fictionalized ocean floor. While the focus is on animals that inhabit the various ocean levels (especially in color illustrations with keys), there are text asides that include facts about physical and geological science topics. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Sebastian Quigley & Gary Hincks. In a cramped design, labeled diagrams, paintings, charts, and a sparse, largely error-free text introduce various astronomical objects in our solar system. With two pages per topic, basic facts, such as atmosphere, composition, and relative size and distance, are relayed. Though gimmicky, a cutaway center portal shows, with a turn of the page, the planets' placement in relation to each other and to the sun. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Harry Clement Stubbs

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Nicki Palin. Working in broad strokes, Harris tells the tale of civilization--from isolated nomadic tribes settling into villages and creating language, tools, and monetary systems; to the interaction of vastly different cultures; to the growth of science, arts, religion, and government; to the industrial revolution and beyond. Detailed illustrations bring a distant past to life, but a tacked-on moral dampens the otherwise thought-provoking history.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Nicki Palin. Working in broad strokes, Harris tells the tale of evolution--how life crept from the primordial sea and developed into the various classes of animals; how dinosaurs first ruled and then disappeared from Earth; and how humans arrived and soon dominated the natural world. Detailed illustrations bring a distant past to life, but a tacked-on conservational moral dampens the otherwise thought-provoking history.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Andrea Ricciardi di Gaudesi & Alessandro Rabatti. This book presents the history of the Earth backward at uneven increments that favor human existence. Rather than generalizing plant and animal life for the whole planet, Harris cleverly presents snapshots of four locations for each point in time. The double-page layouts also contain several facts, a vignette about life at the time, and an enlarged color illustration of one of the sites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford