The best way to describe The Usborne Internet-Linked Library of Science series of books is to compare them to the DK Eyewitness series of science books. They have similar approaches to scientific topics. (Perhaps because they’re both from British publishers?) The difference is primarily that the Usborne books rely more heavily on illustrations, have less history in the main text, and they’re Internet-linked (include links to relevant web sites).
    The World of Plants offers some great basic information about plants—photosynthesis, structure, lifestyles, for example—and fun factoids about all sorts of species. Want to meet a “fungi”? Turn to page 42. There you can learn how a mushroom “shoots and spores”, and capture the spores on a paper towel to impress your friends. Then you can log onto the Internet and use the Quicklinks to find out more.
    The web sites featured, such as the University of Toronto’s mould and mildew web site, is full of even more information and likely to be updated regularly. The sites all seem to have reliable educational links—very useful for projects. In fact, some web sites have guidelines on the use of their images and text for educational purposes.

(Originally published in the Nov/Dec 2002 issue of YES Mag.)