Underworld: Exploring the Secret World Beneath Your Feet

This informative yet humorous guide examines the geology and biodiversity that lies beneath the Earth’s surface, while sprinkling in literary, historical, and archaeological information. Photographs, captions, sidebars, and cartoons discuss caves, fossils, mummies, underground transportation systems, clandestine uses of the underground (for example, Adolf Hitler’s concrete bunker), among other topics, including ancient beliefs that “caves, volcano craters and other holes led straight down to hell.” Readers who dream of spelunking or who simply want to dive into a well (of information) will find much to ponder—bats and naked mole rats get spreads of their own, as does the curse of King Tut and the 2010 Chilean mine collapse—in this lively and accessible exploration. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)