Oceans, Peaks, Volcanoes and Rivers

Reviewing the award winning (highly sought after, Silver award of the Geographical Association) ‘Horrible Geography’ series, has been a ‘horrible’ experience; as ‘horrible’ as Anita promises Geography will be! The new meaning of Horrible is now exciting, interesting, and delightful! Reading through 4 books (there are almost ten of them, with more in the pipeline) of the ‘Horrible’ series, Freaky Peaks, Violent Volcanoes, Raging Rivers and Odious Oceans was like being in constant conversation with Anita, as she flips through the pages of an encyclopedia (hats off to all the nuggets of information—coral reef bits used to substitute human eye sockets and bones!), with the globe on her head, wondering what’s going to happen next! It is evident that she not only loves using alliterations freely (there are ample examples throughout the series apart from the titles), but also Loves geography! By her own admission, she has travelled to most of the places that she talks about in her series.

(Interview with Ganeri: http://www.scholastic.co.uk/zone/authors_a-ganeri_interview.htm) Her passion to reach information that the child would absorb easily, also tells us that she knows her reader well.

That she could devote an entire book to each of the geographical physical features, when, in fact, most books would devote a para or two at best, speaks of the amount of content, painstakingly researched, that is disguised in this comic like series. Mike Phillip has captured the mood and style of the author in his illustrations and it is therefore true team work between them.