The Seven Continents

Rookie Read-About Geography

by Wil Mara

An introduction to the continents, including landmarks, vegetation, climate, and population. Emergent readers (Ages 6-7) can expand their horizons and take off on adventures to cities, nations, waterways, and habitats around the world or right in their own backyard through this easy-to-read, nonfiction series.

Genres: Geography, Picture Books, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

Wil Mara has worked as an author for over 34 years and currently has more than 325 books in print. He has written both fiction and nonfiction, for children and adults. His books have won multiple awards, reached bestseller lists, earned excellent reviews, and been translated into more than a dozen languages. 2005’s Wave won the New Jersey Notable Book Award, and 2012’s The Gemini Virus remained on Amazon’s list of ‘Ten Bestseller Medical Thrillers’ for 14 consecutive weeks. The most recent novel in his disaster series, Fallout, was nominated for the Edgar Award for Novel of the Year. And his children’s nonfiction publications have won countless awards and terrific reviews in all the leading trade journals, including Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus, and others.

Much of his work for children has been nonfiction for the school-library market. He also ghostwrote five of the popular ‘Boxcar Children’ mysteries. And starting in 2019, Rosen Publishing released the first of his new ‘Twisted’ series, which has been described as “Twilight Zones for kids.” It became the most pre-ordered fiction series in the company’s history. The first ‘Twisted’ book, The Videomaniac, was released on January 1 and sold through its first printing in less than a month. The second, House of a Million Rooms, was released on March 1 and, just a few weeks later, was chosen as a Main Selection Title by the Junior Library Guild.

Wil was also an editor, administrator, and executive inside the industry for over 20 years, working for such houses as Scholastic, McGraw-Hill, Macmillan, and Prentice-Hall until turning to fulltime writing in 2005. He is an associate member of the NJASL and an executive member of the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Center for the Book, which is an affiliate of the US Library of Congress. He is also the vice president of the Literary Alliance of New Jersey, the host of the ‘Voice of American Libraries’ podcast, and the 2019 recipient of the Literary Lion of New Jersey Award, whose past winners include Gus Friedrich, Dean Emeritus of Rutgers University, and Joyce Carol Oates, National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Wil is also an experienced speaker, presenter, and voice artist, having visited more than 300 schools and other institutions, and done the audio readings for many books, including his 2012 thriller The Gemini Virus. He continues to speak to audiences across the country (including via video) and do voice work as his writing schedule permits.

Reviews

[Katherine Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

1) Book summary, in your own words (3 pts)
-This book is a non-fiction, informational book for children to learn about the 7 continents. It explains to students the 7 continents, some of the countries that are in each continent, and each continent's climate. It also explains to students that the continents move and how at one time, Scientists believe that all continents were together to form one, big continent called Pangea. Each page contains real pictures of the continents.
2) Grade level, interest level, lexile (1 pt)
-2nd-3rd grade.
3) Appropriate classroom use (subject area) (1 pt)
-Geography
4) Individual students who might benefit from reading (1 pt)
-Students who are learning about the continents.
-Children who have an interest in climates and geography
-Students who like to travel
5) Small group use (literaturecircles) (1 pt)
-Students could read through book together and discuss what continents they found the most interesting, which they would like to visit, etc.
6) Whole class use (read aloud) (1 pt)
-Carpet read aloud as introduction into continent unit of geography
7) Related books in genre/subject or content area (1 pt)
-Explore Earth's Seven Continents by Bobbie Kalman
8) Multimedia connections (audio book, movie) available (1 pt)
-None available.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick introduction to the continents for beginning readers.

This book is starting to show it's age. Not that the continents have changed (it would have to be pretty old for that!) but the photos of some of the sample locations are starting to look a bit dated in people's clothing. But oddly enough, it is pretty hard to find a nice simple book on the continents, so this is going in the Elementary library as a replacement for the old copy that has made it through a couple generations of students and has earned retirement.

[Steve Holden · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's nothing over the top about this book or this series, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. We use this to get us going with continents, and it gets right to the point on helping students learn the names and locations of our continents.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice supplemental resource and book to introduce or review the seven continents of the world. I like that it is brief. While it does introduce a few additional pieces of information for context, it generally keeps on topic to the 7 major and accepted landforms.

[Julia Henderson]

Summary: This is a non-fiction book which informs children on the seven continents of the world.

Lexile Level: 550L

Grade Level: 1-2

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a clear and easy to understand book about the continents.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book because it's a good book . I like this book because it tells about the seven continents. I like this book because it tells about the largest continents. I like this book because it has lots of information about the world.

[Jean-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for the preschool to early elementary set just learning about the continents.

[Rosanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

adequate kindergarten intro.

[Kimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book we learned about the seven continents on earth. This is a challenging book for beginning fluent readers, with great pictures and good information to learn about the world geography.