The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for The World's Most Adventurous Kid by Dylan Thuras and Rosemary Mosco, illustrated by Joy Ang

This is a paperback edition of a title released in hardcover in 2018. It is a reissue, not an updated version (a small typo on one page makes that certain). An "packing list" lists items to take along, from a geiger counter to a compass, and then instead of a table of contents there's an "adventure plan" which lists the countries and places in them to visit.

The adventures begin in a volcano in Iceland then move on to whale migrations in Iceland. A note at the bottom of the page hints at another amazing migration... turn the page, and witness a bat migration in Zambia. This format is followed throughout the book, the first, left page giving some basic information and facts about the country before jumping into a unique natural or human-made wonder. There's a second wonder on the right page and a bridge to the next country with a note at the bottom. More interesting facts and a different way of trekking through the book, as well as further reading, are included in the back matter. 

Ang's colorful illustrations both frame and fill the background of the paragraphs of text, showing lightning storms, a Venezuelan ice cream shop with 900 flavors, root bridges in India, a miniature museum in Germany, and ending with a volcano in Chile, echoing the beginning of your journey in an Icelandic volcano.

In some ways this is similar to the popular browsing nonfiction produced by National Geographic, especially its atlas-style explorations, but with Mosco's upbeat writing and Ang's colorful illustrations, this stands on its own as a neatly organized journey with a broad range of facts and phenomena. Although I don't really subscribe to the idea that people have been deprived of travel - most of my audience rarely travels farther the neighboring state of Illinois - it will certainly attract kids who are interested in world geography and tempt them into further explorations.

Verdict: This new paperback edition will be a fun addition to most library collections or a special gift to adventurous readers.

ISBN: 9781523516148; This edition published July 2022 by Workman; Review copy provided by publisher