What's Inside?
Grade 3–7—This beautiful book presents interior and exterior views of 14 extraordinary structures, from King Tut's tomb and the Temple of Kukulcan to the Sydney Opera House and the Georgia Aquarium. Each one is first shown and described from the outside—but not identified—until the question is posed: "What's inside?" The next page identifies the building and answers the question, offering specifics about what is happening in this picture, with salient facts such as the name, location, date of construction, materials, etc., listed in the left margin. The text is good, the organization is clever, but it's the art here that is truly masterful. The illustrations are made from layers and layers of cut and painted paper, and in fact may be considered sculpture—the visible dimensionality gives each page a deep tactile quality. Animals, people, domestic scenes, and landscapes both natural and manmade are depicted with skill and charm: the intricacy of this art will hold readers spellbound. The book is brought to a satisfying close with a loving re-creation of a North American small-town street and the interior of a lighted room in which two children create ziggurats and temples out of blocks and readWhat's Inside?—Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MDCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.