This book literally takes a different perspective on things, looking down at interesting locations and having children be engaged by finding and counting different items. I highly recommend it!

This book is incredible! I love the perspective it give. I want to show this books to students one on one or in small groups to get them excited about the world we live in.

This book deserves a special spot on children's bookshelves for it is perfect in every which way. As it brings to us the aerial views of various natural wonders, the discussion that ensues is entirely different from the ones that we have when we read other books. The accompanying text describes briefly the places chosen and adds in interesting tidbits. But the opening for so many bookish play is what makes this an ideal book for both study and play.

Look Down and See Natural Wonders of the World: A Bird's Eye View of 12 of the World's Greatest Natural Wonders by Bethany Lord is a children's nonfiction book. It features illustrated versions of the Great Barrier Reef, Mount Everest, Victoria Falls, and other stunning geographic features look from a bird’s-eye view, which is close enough to see some detail but grants a new perspective to the viewer. Simple explanatory text introduces readers to each wonder, providing key facts and context as well as encouraging readers to take in the exciting visuals.

Look Down and See Natural Wonders of the World is an interesting book. I like that there are interactive parts of the pictures, inviting readers to find and count certain features. I really liked the informational text boxes that taught me things about each location. I found the facts to be very interesting and I learned more than a few things as I read. It was interesting to see an aerial view of the locations, and the illustrations were technically solid. I thought that they were be a little more realistic and less cartoony or stylized when I read the description of the book. The style did make it easier to find the items that readers are encouraged to count and was bold to hold the attention of younger readers, but I was a little disappointed.

Look Down and See Natural Wonders of the World is a great book for young readers that want to know more about the wider world, and who enjoy seek and find style challenges.

Great book to introduce kids to the wonders of our world, to the magnificent nature we have and to make them think how to protect it.

This didn’t have a ton of new information compared to other animal atlases and the like, but I did find the perspective to be really cool. I’ll be getting this out of the library to share with my kids, but I don’t know if it’s one I’ll feel the need to own.

Another good book that shows an overview of a place somewhere in the world. A good book for anyone, not just kids. You do only get twelve places. But it does have each place cover two pages with some introductory information.

Firstly, this book is BEAUTIFUL. Bethany Lord is so talented and each spread is delightful.

This is definitely a book that fosters great discussion. A birds-eye view is obviously not one we see to often, and to look at the images created and figure out what the elements are makes it a great read with young readers. The facts about the locations make it perfect for older children.

This is an incredibly clever book, and provides enough information to be interesting and inform, but not overwhelm.

And once more, it's beautifully drawn - fantastic illustrations!

"Look Down and See: Natural Wonders of the World" is a book that explores 12 different places around the world from a top-down, bird's-eye view perspective. Each location features a two-page illustration with a collection of fun facts, a simple quiz, and a world map for context. While I enjoyed the illustrations, I can see how they would be confusing for younger readers. In order to understand the feature that you're looking at, it helps to have prior knowledge of said feature. For example, it's difficult to understand the breadth and immensity of the Grand Canyon without actually seeing different scaled angles of the canyon. Overall, I enjoyed the colorful illustrations and fun facts, and I wish geography-related books were more common! They're wonderful and much-needed educational tools.

I really enjoyed this book. It has a very interesting concept and overall I think it was executed well. I really liked the cartoon illustrations and I think they are perfect for this book's target age and will be appealing for kids. I do wish some of the perspectives had been done differently though. I wish a few had been taken from a greater height in order to really appreciate their immense size (like the great barrier reef) and beauty. But overall, a very nice book.

This was such a fun book. An aerial view of different places in the world. Your goal is to observe and count certain things in each place. The aerial view is really interesting and there are pieces of information on each page.

This concept is new and fun and I enjoyed this book immensely.

A reasonable geography primer, using a downwards view to see the layout of different places as if from a high-soaring bird. Some of the places are generic (an average bit of Arctic Alaskan coastline), others are definitely specific – this waterfall, that mountain, that canyon. Each is presented in pleasant fashion across a double-page spread, with a distinctive way with patterning the water the standout for me in the art design. Small factoids here and there add to the knowledge imparted, but this generally comes down as a primer for different biomes – the cold bit, the desert canyon bit, the karstic bit (if that's a word). Simple counting or spotting exercises force further engagement with each spread, but I don't think this will rush off the school library shelves. It's not bad, but I think it might have offered a little more. Three and a half stars.

Not exactly what I was expecting. The landscapes are illustrated nicely, but they were too simplistic and not realistic enough for me. The perspectives on some of the drawings seemed off to me (it didn't look like we were looking down on the landscape), and they looked more like generic habitat illustrations than proper wonders of the world--nothing distinguished the illustrations as wondrous.

There are a few facts peppered around the spread for each location and there are little search-and-find activities for each one as well, which is always fun. Although I did think that these facts covered up too much of the illustration--maybe they would work better as a side bar. Each landscape features a bird from the region covered flying around, which is a great way of linking to the birds-eye-view theme.

In all, I think I was just hoping for more facts, more realistic illustrations and some photos, and more actual wonders rather than regions, and this just didn't have those.

Look Down and See: Natural Wonders of the World is a book I was looking forward to reading. The book is described as a birds eye view of twelve natural wonders across the world. I thought this sounded like a really interesting concept, and I guess it still is, but I just don't like how this book looks.

The book is split into 12 double pages with each double page having one illustration of a birds eye view and a map of where the location is in the world. I think that although I can see why it has been done, the illustrations are too busy and a little confusing to look at on some pages and this is off putting when trying to concentrate on the book. I think in a way they are too cartoon like and maybe needed to be a more realistic drawing or an actual photo so the real beauty of the natural wonders could be appreciated.

I do like just how many facts are placed throughout the book as it is great to read about some places the children (and I) might not have heard of before, we particularly liked looking at Alaska and seeing such an unique environment. The search and find part of the book is fantastic and something I hadn't expected but was very pleased to discover as the children love this kind of book. It wasn't the hardest or most time consuming search and find but it was a nice aspect to the book and gets the children to look more deeply into the illustrations and facts.

We found aspects of this book good but would have given it a lot higher rating if the illustrations were more realistic, not a bad book but could be better.

4.5 stars.

This was a cute and fun read! I really love reading books about nature and this has an interesting premise which is seeing the world in a bird's eye POV.

The illustrations in each page is really beautiful especially the water bodies and the snowy areas! Though the trees and some land areas look a bit awkward because there's no shades. It would also be interesting to see this in a photograph style too!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

This book was a huge hit in our family. It was informative and the art was captivating. Having the look/find aspect along with the facts kept both my children engaged through its entirety.

Unfortunately, this is going to be my first low review of a QPG book. I think the idea of showing Natural Wonders from the perspective of a bird flying in the sky (or aerial view) is neat, but it just didn't connect with me, nor do I think it would work for the 8,6,5,2 and 1 year old kids in my life. I'm trying to think how it would have worked so I'm not just being critical without providing a solution. Maybe instead of it being a drawing/illustration, it be an actual satellite/drone photo? (To make it more realistic?) Also, maybe the idea suffered a bit from not being interactive. If this were an exhibit in a museum, I could see pinching the image to zoom in and out and that would be really neat. Maybe this idea just isn't for print form.

As always there are positives. Facts regarding each place are sprinkled throughout the book as well as a game where kids can identify something they need to search for (which I think was cool). Also, it's a good discussion piece in how everyone (and everything) on earth see the same thing from a different vantage point (I think the books intro does a good job of setting this idea up). Unfortunately, because the overall point of the book didn't work as well as I would have wanted it to, what I did like wasn't enough to make me want to purchase or loan this from the library.

Thank you to Netgalley, Quarto Publishing Group - Ivy Kids and Bethany Lord for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Review Date: 10/03/19
Publication Date: 10/01/19