Patricia Lauber is the author of more than sixty-five books for young readers. Many of them are in the field of science, and their range reflects the diversity of her own interests-bats, dolphins, dogs, volcanoes, earthquakes, the ice ages, the Everglades, the planets, earthworms. Two of her books, SEEDS: POP STICK GLIDE and JOURNEY TO THE PLANETS, were nonfiction nominees for The American Book Awards. She was the 1983 winner of The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for her overall contribution to children's nonfiction literature.
As well as writing books, Ms. Lauber has been editor of Junior Scholastic, editor-in-chief of Science World, and chief editor, science and mathematics, of The New Book of Knowledge A graduate of Wellesley College, she is married and lives in Connecticut. When not writing, she enjoys hiking, sailing, traveling, cooking, reading, and listening to music.
A timely offering to help prepare for the 500th anniversary of Columbus' discoveries. Lauber explains in simple terms the various theories people have held about the shape of the Earth and how the ancient Greeks discovered the true shape of the Earth by observing ships at sea and eclipses of the moon. Lloyd's detailed drawings are a delight, but are too small to share successfully with a large group. Isaac Asimov's How Did We Find Out the Earth Is Round? (Walker, 1972) covers the same information for an older audience. Lauber's book is a good complement to Branley's Sunshine Makes the Seasons (1985) and What Makes Night and Day (1986, both Crowell) for making the Earth and its movements comprehensible to children. --Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL
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