Indescribable Atlas Adventures

I’m always on the lookout for resources that expose my kids to a variety of topics, ideas, and/or cultures without being too dry (or my “spoon-feeding” them the information). My bigger kids have been really into maps lately. As in, actual printed road maps like we navigated with twenty years ago. But that’s a bit beyond my youngest, just yet. Indescribable Atlas Adventures is a great new option for geography and culture studies on a more “big-picture” scale — in a kid-friendly format.

From Louie Giglio,author of Indescribable, The Wonder of Creation, and How Great is Our God (science devotionals for kids), Indescribable Atlas Adventures: An Explorer’s Guide to Geography, Animals, and Cultures Through God’s Amazing World is a children’s atlas roughly in the style of DK or Usborne books — but from a distinctly Christian perspective.

This book is more a study of cultures, and of zoology, etc. than of geography, per se. We do see the overall outlines of the countries, but physical boundaries are not really the emphasis here. Instead, the spreads for each of 50+ countries highlight significant flora and fauna, languages, technological contributions, interesting facts, and even well-known Christian figures, along with the occasional major landmark or geographical feature. Scripture references/observations are scattered throughout.

This is not an exhaustive atlas. (That might be overwhelming for kids this age.) It includes more than fifty maps covering (if I counted right) 52 countries, and all 7 continents (the continents each have their own maps), along with dedicated pages for the Amazon Rainforest, Sahara Desert, Himalayas, Great Barrier Reef, Polar Regions, and Arctic Circle.

Many of the countries have their own 2-page spreads; in other instances, 2-3 countries share a spread. Each features its own flag, so they stand out easily. Featured countries include: Canada, United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Czechia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye (Turkey), Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, India, China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand.

The table of contents is pretty cool, because it names the countries on their locations on a world map, and that’s where the page numbers are. That makes this kid-friendly for navigation, in my opinion.

I do find it a little quirky that Turkey is listed primarily by its own naming convention rather than our English-language naming convention but it’s the only country that’s like that.

I also wish the atlas had differentiated between North America “proper” and Central America & the Caribbean, especially since the majority of readers are likely to be from North America and it’s potentially confusing that the book tells them there are 23 countries in North America but they’re likely to most often learn that there are 3. A line or two explaining that discrepancy would have been really helpful.

On the flip side, “Australia and Oceania” is featured as a continent — and Australia is also featured as a country. This is really helpful for ensuring children grasp that Australia is both a country and a continent.

Religious Figures

The one thing I dislike about this book is the selections of religious figures, particularly for the U.S. — Billy Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr. I’m not familiar with al the Christian individuals featured for every country of the world, but these two, while famous, are mediocre as theologians. Billy Graham was an excellent evangelist, but his theology didn’t seem to go very deep so, especially in his later years, when he was interviewed on curent worldview issues, he gave some wishy-washy and sometimes even unbiblical responses.

MLK, Jr. likewise was remarkable for his Civil Rights work, but as a pastor/theologian, he was heretical (more here). (He was also sexually promiscuous and possibly perverse.) These — particularly King — are not men I want to excite my young children’s interest in exploring further as related to Christianity. Could we really not find anyone theologically solid/rigorous who’s well-known from anywhere in the history of the United States? (Dwight L. Moody? Any of the Founders? Jonathan Edwards? George Washington Carver?)

These figures throughout the rest of the book are heavily disproportionately Catholic — particularly numerous Catholic priests and nuns. This may be a simple consequence of the prevalence of Roman Catholicism in certain parts of the world, but there are other very well-known figures that didn’t even make the cut (e.g. Galileo Galilei from Italy). The net result is that this element of the book seems the least-carefully created, coming across as someone who’s deeply studied Catholic clergy and then tossed in a few obvious others to fill in some gaps. Given that the big selling point of this volume is that it’s Christian, this is unfortunate. I would have preferred these figures simply be omitted due to the weirdness of the criteria (or lack thereof) for their selection.

Other Elements of Indescribable Atlas Adventures

Despite all the words I just dedicated to that, these “Christian historical figures” are only one element of the overall book, and I really like the book as a whole. The facts that are highlighted about each country are fabulously kid-friendly options — the kinds of things that really will capture a child’s interest and imagination and have them wanting to learn more about these places.

The “key facts” for many countries include a “national dish” inspiring interest in world cuisines.

“Learn the language” introduces a few words in a country’s language, to give a small taste of the native tongue (pun intended).

The rest of the spreads are covered with colorful illustrations and tidbits of information about local fauna (animals), technological advancements/contributions, and lifestyle. e.g. “Pakistan manufactures 70% of the world’s soccer balls,” “Though no one knows how they got there, wild horses have lived on the eastern edge of the Namib Desert for more than 100 years,” and “Impalas may not run fast, but they can jump over nine feet high.”

So all in all, although there are some details I would change if I were editing this book, I really like and appreciate it overall and find it a valuable addition to our collection. It would pair well with something like Window on the World, which is much drier in most ways, but goes deeper into elements like politics and religion and gives prayer guidance for each country. Use this to spark curiosity about people around the world, and then resources like that to go deeper.

Indescribable Atlas Adventures: An Explorer’s Guide to Geography, Animals, and Cultures Through God’s Amazing World (Indescribable Kids)Window on the World: An Operation World Prayer Resource (Operation World Resources)Indescribable: 100 Devotions for Kids About God and Science (Indescribable Kids)