Our world contains an incredible diversity of geographies, nations, and cultures. This informative series explores eight regions of the world, focusing on their rich and complex histories, natural environments, economies, governments, and peoples.

Select a title below to find educator resources, including lesson plans, curriculum correlations, resource links, and book-related downloadables.

Booklist

Oceania

Covering the enormous region that includes Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, this entry in the World Studies series (8 titles) is necessarily broad but offers important details and compelling, browsable tidbits. London focuses on the human aspects of life in Oceania, especially Indigenous groups, mentioning the destructiveness of colonial violence and disease but sparing young readers the details. After a general introduction, chapters cover history, geography and climate, wildlife, government and politics, and people and culture, with inviting full-color stock images provided throughout. A “Culture Profile” and “Landmark Profile” cover the Māori language and the Great Barrier Reef, respectively. Indigenous history and ways in Australia and New Zealand are not widely detailed elsewhere for children, and small Oceanian nations are even less commonly covered, making this a boost to library shelves. — Henrietta Verma

School Library Journal/Series Made Simple, April 2021

This series presents information on the different geographic regions of Earth. Seven chapters of varying lengths contain mostly text with appropriate pictures, art, maps, and diagrams throughout. The title starts by identifying where the region is and what countries can be found there. Each then goes through the history, language, geography, climate, and wildlife, along with government and politics. Every title has a chapter that describes a few of the cultures and customs found in the region, along with the devastating effect of colonization, such as the enslavement of Oceania’s people by Europeans (Oceania). Although the amount of information could be overwhelming for readers, the text provides a good base for information on the various regions. The back matter includes questions about the text, a glossary, further reading, and an index. VERDICT A good starting point for student projects, but not meant to be the only resource.