This Place Is High: The Andes Mountains of South America

by Vicki Cobb, Barbara Lavallee

Can you imagine living in a place that is so high you have trouble breathing because the air has less oxygen? Or where the most common farm animal spits and has tassels in his ears? In this book you will find out all sorts of things about what it is like to live in the Andes Mountains of South America. Try to imagine living there!

Genres: Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1989

About the author

Vicki Cobb, the “Master Chef of Hands-on Science,” a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia’s Teachers College, is a former science teacher with a M.A. in secondary school science. The publication of her classic book, Science Experiments You Can Eat, (an updated, revised edition was released in 2016 by HarperCollins) established her as an innovator in hands-on science. Take a look on her website www.vickicobb.com to get a sense of her playful and accessible approach to science in her 90+ books for grades K-8 that cover physics, chemistry and biology, biographies, geography, and the human body.

She is also pioneering a video project based on her book We Dare You! Check out the hilarious videos at www.wedareyouvideos.com

She has performed “Science Surprises,” her interactive and engrossing show for kids, in 49 of the fifty states (missing only North Dakota) as well as internationally. A veteran motivator/professional development presenter of day-long in-services/keynote speaker, Vicki uses her expertise, humor, wit and background as an educator to inspire teachers to make science teaching the highpoint of their day. Currently she is president and founder of iNK Think Tank, Inc., a nonprofit company that focuses on the contribution that nonfiction literature and its authors can make to education. She contributes to: The Nonfiction Minute, www.nonfictionminute.org/ (which has had 5+ million page views over the past five years) and has been a Contributor to the Huffington Post and has recently launched www.vickicobbsblog.com in connection with the Nonfiction Minute, where she writes commentary on education and reviews nonfiction books as inspiring reading for children hungry to learn about the real world. .

Vicki Cobb received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art deserves the highest rating, and the text has a lot of information, but not as easily accessible as it could be. This book has layout/design problems. The font is not easy to read, and the text blocks are long (with lines that are too long) and dense. A better-designed edition would easily earn a higher rating.