Universe Publishing This Is Venice

bellisimo libro!

Another great book by Sasek. I love the artwork.

I spend all day on a laptop, and all evening web surfing, so when this arrived, I opened it up, and what a joy. As long as books like this remain in print, paper copies of books will not disappear any time soon. Flicking through this cannot be done on a PC. The tint of the paper and pastel drawings give it a nostalgic feel (because they're old anyway, but last reproduced in 2005). Endnotes provide updates to show how things have changed since the drawings were done, and so there's not too much disappointment if the kids go to Venice and things aren't the same. But there are few of these as Venice has barely changed in 200 years. The graphics are simple, detailed, and alive, the best thing about these books. The text is short, and straight to the point, giving children a reason to pick it up and look through and imagine, without being bogged down with words. If I'd known about these books earlier, I would have bought one for every holiday destination for me (I mean my kids).

Parfait

My (almost 4 year old) son is fascinated by all things travel, and since we must nightly read one of the books in the series (We also have This is... New York, London, Paris, Rome, Britain and This way to the Moon), I figured This is Venice would be a good addition to our library. And indeed, he is fascinated with this city of canals and bridges. The book spends a lot of time on the bridges, and boats, which makes sense as it is so unique. Neither Carnivale or masks are mentioned which seems like an odd omission, but it is, as always, a beautiful and informative book. The book is long, and is very fact filled; there is no storyline or characters you follow around. My child loved this but some children might find it a bit dry.