Reviews+

Life in these ancient civilizations is thoroughly explored, with special emphasis on how the physical geography influenced aspects of their cultures including geopolitics, farming, and religion. Superimposed over rather distracting topographical-map backgrounds, main texts and subtopics are treated in question-and-answer fashion, supplemented with many illustrations, photographs, maps, and sidebars. A quiz and research tips conclude each volume. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Geography Matters in Ancient Civilizations titles: Geography Matters in Ancient Egypt and Geography Matters in the Inca Empire.

Following a brief introduction to birds' identifying characteristics and the concept of scientific classification, two-page spreads provide a general overview of physical attributes and adaptations, nesting and chick-rearing behaviors, and subcategories such as water birds. Captioned photos are well chosen; an occasional spread features exceptional birds (e.g., the swift, which sleeps while it flies). A quiz is appended. Reading list. Glos., ind.

Designed to help students understand and debate the two titular issues, each book presents one side; flip it over to read about the other. Both books present reasonable ideas and approaches but will become out-of-date soon (e.g., social media rapidly changes). Stock photos and graphs illustrate the texts; discussion questions and a pro-and-con summary are included. Reading list. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers the following Perspectives Flip Books: Issues titles: Punishing Bullies and Social Media.