Podunk Perspectives: A Book Review

The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide For The World's Most Adventurous Kid

---

One of my many duties at the library is In Processing. That prepositional phrase just means that I take any books that come from the Mother Ship, er, the main library in our network, and prepare them for checkout. Nothing is more exiting than slapping a bit of tape and a checkout sticker on a fresh bit of published paper and setting it free into the wild that is circulation. I love it when our library gets new books for our members to enjoy!

That said, sometimes a new item will catch my eye and I will take it home. Well, I only do this if it is not on hold for another patron, because being a librarian I am rather fond of and tend to follow policy. Anyhoo, this book was waiting for me on the In Processing shelf a couple of weeks ago:

Yes, I know it says the book's for a kid, but I couldn't help myself. There was an entry on the Door to Hell in Turkmenistan. I mean how could a curious Kat resist such enticing mind fodder as a doorway to Hades!

The Atlas Obscura is a fun little guide to the obscure and odd in places around the globe. From the Blood Falls in the Antarctic to the Vashon Island Bike Tree in Washington state, the Atlas has got an odd assortment of interesting destinations covered. I devoured the tome from cover to cover in about thirty minutes, gasping and spouting off facts of weirdness with delight! Many of the entries I had heard of like the Tunguska Event in Russia and the Nazca Lines in Peru, but there were some surprises even for me like the Door to Hell in Turkmenistan and the Musical Stone of Gobustan in Azerbaijan that stoked my adventurous and knowledge thirsty soul.

Much to my delight, my son glommed onto the book too. He has been reading entries to me during our daily homeschool read out loud time. I introduced the book to both of my kids by using entries from it as writing prompt fodder. I popped open the Atlas Obscura to the contents page, told each of the kids to pick an entry, and then had them read the entry to me. Next, I told them to tell me a tale that took place in that setting. My daughter picked the unfinished Superconducting Super Collider Texas. Only fourteen of the fifty-four miles of the collider were finished before construction funds ran out, and let me tell you, my imagination ran wild on the stories that could take place in that setting. Let's just say she had more than a bit of fun on that creative writing assignment.

My son has my penchant for storytelling, albeit he is a bit more on the macabre side. He chose the Wunderland Kalkar entry. Wunderland Kalkar is an unfinished nuclear power plant in Germany that a Dutch entrepreneur turned into an amusement park. Between evil clowns and terrorists refitting and firing the reactor up to cause mayhem and destruction, my boy weaved a seat of the pants essay that had me alternating between horrified gasps and elated giggles due to the outrageousness of it all.

Even our Lani girl sat down for a listen!

Now, the Atlas isn't due back to the library for a couple more weeks, so we are probably going to use it for a few more creative writing prompts and read aloud moments. I love it when we come across something like this book, its guidebook to the odd layout fascinates young and old minds alike as you find yourself pondering some of the strange and amazing things that are on this planet. If you are into the obscure and slightly strange but true, do yourself a favor and check out the Atlas Obscura, you won't be sorry!

---

And as frequently but not always, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's non puppy nibbled on, purple case, enclosed iPhone.

---

Want to read more @Generikat posts?

---

Click Here!