Keith Bellows' 100 Places That Can Change Your Child's Life: From Your Backyard to the Ends of the Earth (National Geographic, $18.95) covers quite a bit of ground. Entries are two or three pages at most, and each also holds several of 10 kinds of breakouts that range from kid-friendly places to eat to fast facts to close-in tips to conversation-starting quotes. It's an ambitious approach best suited for rainy-day browsing and conversations at the kitchen table. Photos would've been helpful. As it is, there are a few simple, woodcut-style illustrations. "Know Before You Go" items point to books, movies and music that parents and kids can use to further tickle interest, but Internet sites (which could do the same, perhaps more easily) are few and far between.
-- John Bordsen, The Charlotte ObserverHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
