Quick thing to note: PictureBox is having a Massive Visual Book and Magazine Sale this weekend- hundreds of books at very low prices. You can find out more here. See you there!

I think the market for this book is probably nerdy junior high boys but I love it. The back half is punch out paper pieces that you can construct your own boats with. From viking ships, to warships to submarines, all the little pieces fold up and connect to make paper models. I especially love the container ship because there’s a whole page of those containers, complete with tiny logos, to punch out and pile for the trip across your wooden floor ocean. I will never punch these out because I like how they look on the page too much- of course. Plus who has the time! The front of the book has a wealth of information about boats: how they work, famous boat stats, all these international maritime flags, and then big photos of shipwrecks that make you say wow aloud without realizing it. I was trying to think of a little cousin of mine that would die for this book but they have all moved on to illegally downloading games for their iphones. Then I remembered my husband who last year constructed his own polygons out of paper- I mean the 20 sided kind. The same guy who couldn’t thank me enough for surprising him with a moon globe. Now I know who gets this book come the holidays. You can get one for your nerdy husband here.

© Julia Rothman 2007