Awesome, lush, informative, with everything in the world crowded in but it never feels pressed for space. Seems to devote a slightly inordinate amount of time to environmental stuff but that's my pre-crisis thinking that needs to change. ( )

history

This digital atlas app is pretty spiffy. I like how it's organized by region instead of by continent, recognizing that culture and land that shapes us more than country or continent labels. A user can easily zoom from global view to local using her fingers and select icons to learn statistics such as climate or wildlife. There's also photographs, sound effects, and a little animation. The text is a more dense that would be ideal for a younger child, so I would recommend this to good readers in the 9-11 age range. This atlas should probably also be paired with another, so children aren't confused by the regional organization.