Beautiful two-page spreads introduce young readers to the history of the world's mariners and their most memorable sea voyages. Here are the ships, the men, the trade routes they established, and their voyages of discovery. A few of the book's illustrated entries include--

• Phoenician sea traders (1300 B.C. to 140 B.C.) who plied the Mediterranean and ultimately extended their voyages to Britain in the west, and India in the east
• The Vikings of Scandinavia (1st Millennium A.D.), who colonized Greenland and Iceland, explored the North American coastline, and raided and traded along the European coast from France to Constantinople
• China's Ming Dynasty treasure trading ships (4th Century B.C. to circa 1190 A.D.), which were first to use the compass, a ship's rudder, and multiple masts with fore and aft rigging
• The 15th- and 16th-century European voyages of global exploration by Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Francis Drake, and others

The voyages of British Naval Captain James Cook (1760s and 1770s) and his exploration of the south seas, the East Indies, Australia, and Easter Island

• The handsomely illustrated spreads have miniature maps, lift-flaps, and attached miniature booklets presenting added facts about voyagers and exploration. A slide-out drawer built into the book's sturdy back cover contains a working model ship's compass, a pair of lenses to construct a small telescope, a cardboard model of Captain Cook's sailing ship Endeavor to assemble, and a miniature rope for practicing sailors' knots. The book's back-cover endpaper displays an antique map of the Western Hemisphere, and when the slide-out drawer is opened, a tab that pictures a sailing ship glides across the map's surface. Brilliant color illustrations on every page.

Age - 8
Grade - 3rd
Author - Philip Steele
Publisher - Barron's
Format - Hardback
Pages - 32
Dimension - 10.25 x 1.5 x 10.25 inches