The Incredible yet True Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt review

I love to learn about people that I haven’t previously heard of, especially if it involves travel, discovery, science or animals. The Incredible Yet True Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt, The Greatest Inventor-Naturalist-Scientist-Explorer Who Ever Lived easily has the longest book title of anything we’ve ever read. It also perfectly baits your imagination by asking you to align why you’ve (or at least I) never heard of him and the chutzpah that author, Volker Mehnert had in titling the book that. It turns out that Alexander von Humboldt indeed did have a magical life. In the 1820’s in Germany he was the rock star storyteller who spoke to sold out crowds that included all walks of life as he recounted his stories about travelling to those far-away places.

That’s the magnetic affect that Mehnert has accomplished with this book. It takes place in the past, so it’s historical. It looks at the life of Alexander von Humboldt, a real person who loved exploring places and discovering things. The result is an educational and entertaining travelogue that middle school readers with a variety of interests will enjoy.

A large part of the credit for this goes to illustrator Claudia Lieb. Her illustrations are realistic, placed perfectly within the book and push the curiosity factor deeper than it otherwise would’ve gone. After all, this is a book about a scientist who explored areas from the South American rainforests to the vastness of Siberia and inspired the next generation of thinkers like Charles Darwin. With credentials like that readers will have built in questions about what he did when seeing these places for one of the first times….from the perspective of western eyes.

 For those with wanderlust, this where the travelogue aspect of the book kicks in as we think about how he must’ve felt as he approached the dark green interior of the country. Was he scared? For the most part, no, he simply wanted to document the small critters and plants that he saw. If science is your scene then you’ll have same thoughts as he discovers flora or fauna in Venezuela. You geography people will love it when he and his travelling companion realize that the rumors about the two massive South American rivers, the Orinoco and Amazon being linked by a canal were indeed true.

The Incredible yet True Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt reads like an adventure story that’s punctuated with great art. The size of the book is a bit much for those in elementary school. They’ll be able to read the content, but might be intimidated by the size and feel of the book.  Middle school audiences and up will enjoy reading about his discoveries and adventures. They also might be so motivated to read more on him or on the areas that he explored for further non-fiction reading.