From Here to There: The Story of How We Transport Ourselves and Everything Else

For as long as man has roamed the earth, he has had to get people and things from here to there. At first, the movement was spurred by the need to find and obtain food, but through the millennia, the reasons for movement of people and goods have become much greater and more complicated than simply the search for food. This book examines locomotion in many categories, represented in seven sections including rails, roads, and rockets, among others. Each section, from sixteen to twenty-two pages, is a surprisingly comprehensive history of the mode of transportation discussed in the section with an abundance of photographs, illustrations, and maps to complete the story.

Author H. P. Newquist has done a masterful job of putting together a middle-grade reference book that will fascinate and teach without the young readers realizing they are being schooled. The writing has a strong creative element that saves it from being a dry, didactic compendium. Graphically, it has a look to it that will keep those pages turning. As with all the Smithsonian books for kids, this is a true winner that will be a welcome addition to school and personal libraries.