Buried Blueprints: Maps and Sketches of Lost Worlds and Mysterious Places

The mysterious owner of this unusually packaged book -- a catalog of exotic locations resembling something that fell out of Indiana Jones' baggage -- invites us to travel in divergent directions: First, author Albert Lorenz seems to be trying hard to captivate readers about real and fanciful events, and then he mixes in some joking, disorienting nonsense. Readers may be able to sift fact from fiction, but it's annoying that the author mixed it up in the first place.

Lorenz tries hard -- sometimes too hard -- to keep readers entertained, but the juvenile humor often contains references that will go over the heads of the target age groups. Although the illustrations and their captions are rich with information, the artwork is too busy and of variable quality. Still, imaginative youngsters may ignore these flaws and be enthralled by the sheer number and diversity of factoids and details.