North America
Wendy Vierow
Paperback
(PowerKids Press, Jan. 1, 2004)
This seven-book series is a user's guide to locating Earth's continents and the countries of the world. Kids will learn that more than 200 million years ago, all continents began as part of Pangaea, a supercontinent that broke up to form seven continents. They will acquire map-reading skills by learning the directions in which longitude and latitude lines point, where the equator is, and what the prime meridian is. The final chapter in each book features a scientist, related to the continent, with specialties that range from dinosaurs to the study of volcanoes. North America is a continent of many natural wonders. It has the longest coastline of any continent in the world at 190,000 miles, including the island of Greenland and the Caribbean islands. It has two of the world's major mountain ranges: the Appalachians in the east and the Rocky Mountains in the west. North America contains every kind of climate on Earth, from frozen tundra to tropical wetlands. It has sunny beaches and arid deserts. It contains 23 countries, including Canada, the second largest country in area on Earth, the United States, and Mexico.