Benchmark/Marshall Cavendish

Children's Bookwatch, May, 2005

Benchmark/Marshall Cavendish

99 White Plains Rd, Tarrytown NY 10591

$20.95 each www.marshallcavendish.com

The third set of Benchmark's 'Great Explorations' series is out, this reaching grades 4-6 with an excellent series of biographical coverages of major explorers. Harold Faber's Samuel De Champlain (0761416080) recounts the life and achievements of the major explorerer of Canada, Steven Otfinoski's Vasco Nunez De Balboa (0761416099) details the discoveries of the Pacific region explorer, his Juan Ponce De Leon (0761416102) tells of the discoverer of Florida, Patricia Calvert's Zebulon Pike (0761416129) outlines the harrowing story of an explorer who became lost in the Rockies he was charting, her Vasco De Gama (0761416-110) tells of an act of audacity and a South Seas explorer who took many risks, and Milton Meltzer's Francisco Pizarro (076-1416072) tells of Pizarro's conquest of Peru and his encounter with Ican wars. Each book holds over 70 pages of information, includes an index, glossary and bibliography along with plenty of color illustration, and outlines risks, motivating factors, and influences of each explorer and his world for a well-rounded presentation.