Before I buy, which is better?

[jlcejb6]

I am looking for a world atlas for my two boys to use next year. I am considering DK first world atlas and Kingfisher's first picture atlas. Has anyone used either? Is it better to get a "first" atlas or just a childrens atlas?

[TKDmom]

I used the DK First Atlas with my 3rd grader last year. It's beautiful. I haven't seen the Kingfisher one. We would read a section of the DK Atlas at the beginning of the week to get a feel for each region. She was also using Geography Songs, so she spent the rest of the week memorizing the song for the region we read about in the Atlas. Geography Songs breaks things up into smaller chunks than the atlas, so we didn't read it every week. DD really enjoyed it the when we used it, though. Sometimes she would pick it up just to read on her own. It's not super detailed, so if we ever wanted to look at an atlas to see where something is actually located, we'd pull out the grown-up atlas.

Edited August 5, 2010 by bonniebeth4
grammar

[buttacol]

I have actually been really thrilled with a National Geographic kids one that we got.

[Guest]

I bought the Kingfisher one and just got home from returning the DK one from the library! I like the Kingfisher one as a first one, but I loved the DK one. I think my 5 year old will like the Kingfisher one better, it's a little more child-friendly and much more basic. There aren't any photographs and it just gives a paragraph for each continent/region. But, I am going to buy the DK one because I liked it so much. It has a lot more information and it is, indeed, beautiful.

[ChrissySC]

I like the Hammond or Peterson Atlas books myself.