The Great Global Puzzle Challenge With Google Earth

Each spread focuses on one destination, and the amazingly intricate artwork gives readers a visual flavour of the place, with masses to look at and discover the more you look. There are links from one place to the next – historical, geographical, natural history or just simple proximity – for example, there is an ancient Egyptian obelisk in NY’s central park, with two sister obelisks in Paris and London. Find the one in the Central Park using Google? Earth co-ordinates and it gives you the clue to where you will be going next. The pyramids at the Louvre in Paris will whisk you off to the temples of Ancient Egypt, then find a connection from the Colosseum of Ancient Rome to the hot plains of Tanzania that team with wildlife, from flocks of flamingos to herds of wildebeest to prides of lions. The crater is actually a collapsed volcano; this knowledge then helps speed you to Mount Fuji and Tokyo. . . and so on.

In each location you have to find a souvenir to take with you. You will also need to solve a puzzle with the help of Google? Earth to collect co-ordinates for your final secret location – again on Google? Earth. For instance, the puzzle tells you to visit the Statue of Liberty on Google? Earth and to count the number of points on its crown. This number is one of the co-ordinates you need to find your final destination at the end of the book.

Clive Gifford is an award-winning writer for children whose first book was published at the age of seventeen. He has written over 80 non-fiction books including Robots (Carlton), Spies (Carlton), The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopaedia, and the Kingfisher Book of Living Worlds. He has received commendations from PBS and the Smithsonian Museum and received a Times Educational Supplement Information Book of the Year award.