Urban Habitats

February 15, 2014
Grades 4-6 Beginning with the question, What is a city? this entry in the Discovery Education: Habitats series takes a wide-ranging look at the world of urban living. The fates of cities like Ur, Angkor Wat, and other locations lost to time are explored, before the enduring city of London is spotlighted alongside a time line spanning its origin as a Roman outpost to its 2003 push to encourage public transit among its citizens. The way urban centers contend with poverty, pollution, and even city wildlife are covered in a number of floating captions surrounding art that also depicts architecture, cultural events, and transportation. Readers are ultimately asked to consider some conundrums of city livingfor instance, how cities should be powered, if heritage buildings should be protected, and where refuse should end up. A concise snapshot of urban dwelling throughout the ages, this title gives readers a peek at how humans have thrived in such a dense living space.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)