This lovely set of books, about some our world’s most treasured and yet most vulnerable sites, should be a welcome addition to any elementary library. This series is valuable for the elementary library, but it may also be helpful for reluctant high school readers. Recommended.

Representing just the tip of the iceberg—there are currently more than 900 official World Heritage Sites—these quick introductions convey a sense of the vast range of places that have been designated by UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre as being significant to our world and its cultures, and the almost equally huge range of challenges conservationists face in preserving them. Each book describes in general terms a site’s construction or creation, distinctive features, and history, as well as threats to its continued existence and both current and past restoration initiatives. Revealing color photos taken from different heights and angles are supplemented by maps and by graphic reconstructions of, for instance, five stages of construction at Stonehenge. Though other books about these unique artifacts and locations are common, Henzel’s distinctive approach gives this series unusual value for both assignment and general-interest reading.