On This Spot: An Expedition Back Through Time

by Susan Goodman, Lee Christiansen (Illustrator)

Overview

On This Spot…

See buildings soar and traffic zoom, a kaleidoscope of color and movement. Now turn the page and time-travel back 175 years, where on the same spot carriages bumped and pigs raced across cobblestones. Turn again and go back 400 years to when a Lenape Indian trail crossed the spot. Now travel farther still, to when glaciers crept . . . dinosaurs preyed . . . a tropical sea teemed with ancient creatures . . . back 540 million years, when rock was all you could see.

What happened on this spot? What will happen next? Look out your window. What happened on that spot?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688169138
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/30/2004
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,002,655
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Susan E. Goodman is the author of many acclaimed nonfiction books for children, including On This Spot: An Expedition Back Through Time, which was a Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2004. Her book The Truth About Poop was named Best of the Best by the Chicago Public Library, and Skyscraper was a Booklist Editors' Choice for 2004 and a Book Links Lasting Connection.

Lee Christiansen illustrated Water Hole Waiting by Jane Kurtz and Christopher Kurtz. School Library Journal called the illustrations "breathtaking" while Kirkus Reviews noted the "vivid artwork complements the elegant text, often extending it with additional details." Water Hole Waiting was named a School Library Journal Best Book and a National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council Outstanding Science Trade Book.

Lee Christiansen lives in Red Lodge, Montana, with his wife and sons.

Editorial Reviews

Goodman follows the midtown area of New York City from the present day backwards, in irregular increments, to the Paleozoic era, providing "snapshots" of evolution along the timeline. The conclusion conveys the notion of constant transformation coming full circle beyond the present-when things will be different still. Goodman keeps the information about each historic era brief but engaging: "20,000 years ago . . . glaciers were so thick they would have buried today's tallest buildings." Conceptually, this measures the brevity of human history (four double-paged spreads) against the expanse of natural history (the rest of the work). For a generation that is sensitive to global warming, Christiansen's pastels dramatize the climatic shifts, which could scarcely be more extreme. Full-bleed illustrations contain the words "170 million years ago . . . " at the upper left and "but on this spot . . . " at the lower right, giving readers both patterned repetition and a feeling of expectancy when turning the pages. With several points of access, this is not only illuminating but intriguing. (timeline, acknowledgements) (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews