If the Earth...Were a Few Feet in Diameter

Miller imagines the earth in miniature--as a strange ball that hovers ""above a field somewhere,"" inspiring awe from people of all different walks of life. Unfortunately, the hyperrealistic, almost scientific description is at odds with the religious response described in the text: ""People would marvel at the bumps on it and the holes in it. They would marvel at the very thin layer of gas surrounding it and the water suspended in the gas."" Sidebar facts appearing on alternating pages give readers more concrete reasons to gawk: the tallest plant, for example, is 300 million times the size of the smallest. But readers will likely be put off by the time they reach the over-the-top conclusion: ""The ball would be the greatest wonder known, and people would come to pray to it, to be healed, to gain knowledge... "" McLean's spreads of animals and sea creatures are breathtaking, and his rendering of the floating earth-ball bulging with oversized volcanoes resembles the Little Prince's planet. In this uneasy marriage of the scientific and the spiritual, the earth comes off as comical instead of grand, funky instead of sacred. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)