In this world record book of natural history, Jenkins identifies and describes places such as the planet's deepest lake, highest mountain, most active volcano, the most extreme tides, and the places designated the hottest, the coldest, the wettest, the driest, and the windiest on Earth. Each spread features a distinctive collage of cut-and-torn papers, which vary in texture and hue. Silhouetted forms provide dramatic focal points in the compositions. Each spread includes a couple of lines of text, supplemented with more information in smaller type and inset maps and diagrams that help the reader visualize just how high, deep, or wet the subject is in comparison with others of its kind. Highly effective visual education for the classroom or for young browsers intrigued by superlatives. (Reviewed August 1998)

A quick global geography tour visits places such as Earth's highest mountains, driest deserts, and deepest ocean trenches. Jenkins's textured paper collages will grab readers' attention and spark curiosity about each of the record-breaking places. Provided are map insets on both global and regional scales and graphics that effectively make the record-breaking numbers in this book tangible.

Once again, Jenkins (Big and Little, 1996, etc.) provides jaw-dropping facts and extremely elegant paper collages to illustrate the amazing natural world. Readers are introduced to the deepest ocean trench, the highest mountain (in terms of elevation) and the tallest (from foot to summit), the longest river, the hottest patch, the coldest, the most active volcanoes, the most extreme tides. The lyric beauty and stunning color sense Jenkins brings to his collages manifest a sense of place. Inset maps—global and regional—and measurement charts (often using humans and the Empire State Building for scale) allow these extremes to make geographical and quantitative sense. As in many such collections, some of the material is contestable; Jenkins cites a spot on Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, as the windiest place, with winds of 231 m.p.h., while the Guam typhoon of 1997 had winds of 236 m.p.h. Also, some sources peg Mount Everest to be even higher than this text states: 29,108 feet as opposed to 29,028. Such quibbling only makes the book more valuable, inspiring readers to do further research after they've been visually seduced. (Picture book. 4-8)

K-Gr 2--As in his Biggest, Strongest, Fastest (Ticknor & Fields, 1995), Jenkins once again uses striking colorful paper collage illustrations to explore a topic. Here, he delves into the greatly varied marvels of the world, presenting the highest mountain, the hottest spot, the wettest place, the most active volcano, etc. Interesting charts help put sizes into perspective. For example, on the double-page spread that introduces the longest river, a side box shows the length of the Nile in comparison to that of other rivers as well as to the width of the United States. The oldest and deepest lake, Lake Baikal in Russia (5134 feet deep), is contrasted pictorially with the height of the Empire State Building (1250 feet). These visuals give young readers a full understanding of how amazing these natural wonders are. Each spread includes a map that shows where these places are located. Browsers will pick up this delightful picture book and read it through completely. This eye-catching introduction to geography will find a lot of use in libraries and classrooms.--Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI