Natural Wonders: Mount Everest, by Megan Lappi

Megan Lappi writes a young readers' introduction to the world's highest mountain in Natural Wonders: Mount Everest. Her information is pretty standard (physical and cultural geography, plate tectonics, trash, the yeti, surveying, climbing, Seven Summits, etc.), but she does a good job of presenting it. She gets points from me for being one of the few children's authors to explain the thin air at altitude sensibly. The prose is general, but only occasionally overly-so, and the facts are up-to-date, but with occasional errors. Included in the book are photographic illustrations, charts, maps, a timeline, glossary, bibliography, and some activities. The climbing history she covers focuses on the first ascent, with some information on 1924, Messner, and 1996. The rest of the mountaineering information describes the mechanics, environment, dangers, and hired help on Everest. The book has one glaring, unfortunate problem---the cover illustration is a photograph of K2, rather than Everest, the subject of the book. In case you're wondering, Natural Wonders: K2 does not have Everest on the cover.