In Focus: Cities

In Focus: Cities profiles ten cities from around the world. It has flip-out pages with lots of pictures and facts about each city. I haven’t visited any of the cities, but they are all ones most kids have heard of: Paris, London, Rome, New York, and Tokyo. It mostly shows buildings/bridges/towers that you might go see if you went to these cities.

It could be interesting for kids who are going to travel to these cities or for those who won’t ever get to go to these famous cities, but I found it boring, and the facts included weren’t interesting to me. For example, under a picture of the Sydney Harbor Bridge the text says, “Spanning 3,770 ft. across, the bridge has eight vehicle lanes, two train lines, a footpath, and a bicycle path.”

The construction of the book with fold-out pages makes it more interesting, but I didn’t respond much to the pictures, and the colors are bland. It would have been better if they profiled cities you’ve never heard of or included more unique facts. Even if you were doing a report on one of the cities, you would probably chose a book that has better information about your particular city. The text is small and the headings are in a cursive font, so I don’t think it would work as a picture book for younger kids either.