Thursday, August 17, 2017

PICTURE BOOK - The Quest for Z: The True Story of Explorer Percy Fawcett and a Lost City in the Amazon by Greg Pizzoli

Illustrated by the author
2017, Viking
Hardcover $17.99
40 pgs.
Nonfiction/Biography
Goodreads rating:  4.14 - 120 ratings
My rating: 5
Endpapers:  Green - Newpapers cut up in the shapes of leaves and vegetation
Illustrations:  "silkscreen, photographic halftones, Zipatone, photocopy machines, newspapers, cut paper, and Photoshop"!

1st line/s:  "Less than one hundred years ago, maps of the world still included large 'blank spots': distant and dangerous lands that mapmakers and scientists had no yet explored."

My comments:  A fascinating, interesting read, a perfect nonfiction picture book for 3rd and 4th graders, and a great addition to the nonfiction adventurer/explorer genre. Simple illustrations add to the text but do not overpower it.  Mr. Pizzoli doesn't shy away from facts that might be glossed over by other authors, particularly the many deaths that accompany a dangerous profession.  Included are four sidebars with information about The Royal Geographical Society, The Amazon Rain Forest, Mosquitoes, and Famous Explorers, and an Author's Note, afterward, glossary, and resource listing that are all just as interesting as the story.  Diseases spread by mosquitoes kill at least 750,000 people every year! And 20 percent of Earth's oxygen is produced in the Amazon rainforest!  Top Notch.


Goodreads:  British explorer Percy Fawcett believed that hidden deep within the Amazon rainforest was an ancient city, lost for the ages. Most people didn't even believe this city existed. But if Fawcett could find it, he would be rich and famous forever. This is the true story of one man's thrilling, dangerous journey into the jungle, and what he found on his quest for the lost city of Z.

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