Difference between revisions of "Newest Children's Non-Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction|*]]
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
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|isbn=1839948493
|title=Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
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|title=A World of Dogs
|rating=4.5
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|author=Carlie Sorosiak and Luisa Uribe
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction  
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|rating=5
|summary=It's been said very often that 'history is told by the winners'Well, too often history, the news and even destinies are written by men, and the proof is between these covers.  I didn't know anything about this before reading it, even if it has become the most richly-backed crowd-funded book ever.  I'd never heard of the Hollow Flashlight, powered purely by body warmth – which is rich if you're old enough to remember the brou-ha-ha when a maverick British bloke did a wind-up radio.  I'd never read about the Niger female who has successfully made a stand against forced, arranged marriage, rejecting a cousin for a fate she wishes to write for herselfMy ignorance may, perhaps, show me up to be a chauvinist of sorts, but I think it is further evidence that 'the gaze is male' and that the media are phallocentricI hope too that this book doesn't turn any of its readers into a feminist, for that would be as bad as the chauvinist charge against me. If anything it is designed to create equals, and that is as it should be, even if there is still a long way to go…
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>014198600X</amazonuk>
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|summary=In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that I'm a sucker for dogsIn nearly eight decades, I've never met one I didn't trust and I've loved most of them.  I wish I felt the same about human beings.  So, any book about dogs, I'm going to sit down and devourThen I'm going to go back and read it properlyAnd so it was with ''A World of Dogs'', with ninety-six pages devoted entirely to my four-legged friendsAuthor Carlie Sorosiak found herself the accidental owner of an American Dingo - she's learned quite a lot about dogs since then.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Adam Hancher
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|isbn=1529507987
|title=Taking Flight: How the Wright Brothers Conquered the Skies
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|title=The Repair Shop Craft Book
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|author=Walker Books and Sonia Albert (Illustrator)
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Flight.  It happens all around us, wherever we may be, and many are the young audience members for this book who have taken to the air alreadyBut it was once something impossible to take for granted, and this book easily takes us back to those daysIt presents us with danger, determination, and a certain pair of American brothers going all out to get both their names in the history books and their feet in the skies…
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|summary=I love ''The Repair Shop''.  It's my go-to programme when I want to be cheered up.  After a hard day, there's nothing better than watching experts repair treasured items without ever mentioning what they're worth.  You see, the value is in what these possessions are worth to the people who own them and the memories they holdNo expense appears to be spared and the experts spend as much time and effort as is required to achieve the desired resultRegular viewers know the experts and they're all brilliant at explaining what it is they're doing.  But how did they start?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809286</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Meurig Bowen, Rachel Bowen and Daniel Frost
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|isbn=024162343X
|title=The School of Music
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|title=Stolen History
|rating=3
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|author=Sathnam Sanghera
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=I have a love/hate relationship with music.  I love it in that I own several large bookshelves full of CDs, and have seen and met quite a few noted performers, from Radiohead to Philip Glass, but I hate it in that as regards making it I can only hit things (and that only with my hands, never with my feet at the same time)Only in the last few years have people been at all appreciative of my singing, for want of a better word, and one of those suggested closing my eyes to sound better (I think she also may have plugged her ears when I wasn't looking).  That from a kid who was lumbered with something big and brass to lumber about on the school bus with, dammit.  But hey, what's the use of my own example being so off-putting, when there is a world of pleasure, mental and physical exercise and fun to be had from being active in music? This book, dressed as the lesson programme of a full-on, proper musical college, is only designed to encourage and informBut does it?
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|summary=I was the bad company other people got into at school.  I was disruptive in religious education classes because I disputed the existence of a 'god'.  Where was the proof?  In history lessons, it was probably worse stillNot too long after the end of WWII, I didn't so much want to learn about the British army's successes (and occasional failures, but we didn't dwell on those) in what came to be called 'the colonies' as want to dispute what right the army had to be there in the first place. Looking back, I still believe I was right - but I regret that I lacked the maturity to approach 'the problem' politelyI wish I'd had Sathnam Sanghera's ''Stolen History''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847808603</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Michaela DePrince and Elaine DePrince
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|author=Jeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene
|title= Ballerina Dreams
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|title=Fritz and Kurt
|rating= 4.5
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|rating=4
|genre= Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Confident Readers
|summary= Africa is a place full of music and rhythm and joy of movement. It is not, however, always a place for the structured tuition and commitment required by ballet. Sometimes there are more pressing issues than whether your pointe shoes are darned or whether you have a pianist available or will have to dance to pre-recorded music. For Michaela, growing up in Sierra Leone, her concerns were more simple: where was her next meal coming from, and who was going to look after her now she had been left orphaned by the war.
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|summary=We start with the pair of brothers Fritz and Kurt, and their muckers, doing things any Jewish lad in 1930s Vienna would want to do – kicking things around the empty market place, helping the neighbours, being dutiful when it comes to the synagogue choir and at a vocational school. Kurt has to make sure the lamps are turned on at their very Orthodox neighbours' each Friday night – the Sabbath preventing them for using anything nearly as mechanical and workmanlike as a light switch.  But this is the time just before the Austrian leader is going to cave to Hitler's will, and instead of having a national vote to keep the Nazis out, invite them in with open arms.  ''Kristallnacht'' happened in Vienna just as much as in Germany, as did all the round-ups of Jews. These in their turn leave the younger Kurt at home with his mother and sisters anxious to hear word of an evacuation to Britain or the US, while Fritz and his father are, unknown initially to each other, packed off on the same train to Buchenwald and the stone quarry there. And us wondering how the titular event for the adult variant of all this could come about…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>057132973X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=024156574X
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Katie Scott and Kathy Willis
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|isbn=1913750353
|title=Botanicum Activity Book
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|title=Britannica's Word of the Day
|rating=4
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|author=Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy
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|rating=5
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|summary=''Britannica's Word of the Day'' has a sub-title: ''366 Elevating Utterances to Stretch Your Cranium and Tickle Your Humerus'' which probably tells you all that you need to know about this brilliant book.  It starts on January 1st with ''Razzmatazz'', tells you how to pronounce it (''raz-muh-TAZ''), gives you a definition and then includes the word in a sentence so that you know how it should be used.  You also get an engaging and frequently amusing illustration too.  I don't think I've ever encountered a word which uses the letter Z four times before!
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0711266204
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|title=The Secret Life of Birds
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|author=Moira Butterfield and Vivian Mineker (illustrator)
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Children and adults who enjoyed [[Botanicum (Welcome To The Museum) by Katie Scott and Kathy Willis]] are going to love the ''Botanicum Activity Book''Don't be misled by the suggestion that the book is aimed at the seven-plus age group: there's plenty in here for anyone who is still capable of holding a pen or pencil.
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|summary=I have recently discovered a great pleasure: I sit and watch the vast numbers of birds which visit our garden on a daily basis.  An hour can pass without my noticingI've established which species feed from the ground, which pop to the feeders for a quick snatch of some food and who settles in for a good munch but I wish I was more knowledgeable.  It would have been wonderful if, as a child, I'd had access to a book such as ''The Secret Life of Birds''. So – what is it?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783706791</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Charlotte Guillain and Yuval Zommer
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|isbn=0192779230
|title=The Street Beneath My Feet
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|title=Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs
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|author=Isabel Thomas
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=It's one thing for a non-fiction book for the young to show them something they themselves can explore – the pattern of the stars, perhaps, or the life in their back yardBut when it gets to things that are equally important to know about but are impossible to see in real life, why, then the game is changed.  The artistic imagination has to be key, in portraying the invisible, and presenting what can only come from the pages of a bookAnd this example does it at its best, as it delves into the layers of the soil below said back yard, down and down, through all the different kinds of rock, until we reach the unattainable centre of the planetAnd there's only one way to go from there – back out the other side, with yet more for us to be shown.  It's a fantastic journey, then – and a quite fantastic volume.
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|summary='Germs' seems to have become a catch-all word to cover anything unpleasant which has the potential to make you illIn the first book in what looks to be a very promising new series, OUP and Isabel Thomas have provided a clear and accessible introduction to the world of germsWe get an informed look at how people originally thought about diseases and what they thought caused them and how the thinking has developed over timeThe vocabulary can be confusing but Thomas gives a regular box headed 'speak like a scientist' which explains some of the trickiest concepts and you'll soon be familiar with bacteria, fungi, protists and viruses – and how we should protect ourselves.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784937312</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Yuval Zommer
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|isbn=1800464495
|title=The Big Book of Beasts (Big Books)
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|title= 100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths: Support All Areas of Your Baby’s Development by Nurturing a Love of Maths
 +
|author=Emma Smith
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=One of the many issues people have with the TV nature programme, such as [[Planet Earth II by Stephen Moss|Planet Earth II]], is the obvious one of all the blood and guts it features – yes, in amongst all the cutesy, comical animal life are creatures eating other creatures (normally the cutesy, comical ones, what's worse)You'll be pleased to know, however, that this book is very light on death and destructionYes, here are lions sharing some chunks of meat (while the females that caught and killed it sit and wait their turn), here are salmon seemingly willingly flying towards brown bears, and here is a red fox stashing a dead mouse while in a time of plenty, but there is so little to make this even a PG book – it will be perfect for the home shelf or that in a primary school.
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|summary=''Babies seem to be born with an amazing number sense: understanding shapes in the womb, being aware of quantities at seven hours old, assessing probability at six months old, and comprehending addition and subtraction at nine months old.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>050065106X</amazonuk>
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Did you know this? I didn't! How about:
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''Maths ability on entry to school is a strong predictor of later achievement, double that of literacy skills.''
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I didn't know this either! I think most parents are aware that giving your children a good start in literacy - reading stories, teaching pen grips, singing rhymes - gives children a solid foundation when they start school. But do we think the same way about maths, beyond counting? I don't think we do, in part because so many of us are afraid of maths. But why are we? Most of us use maths in daily life without realising and it follows that giving our children a similar pre-school grounding will be just as beneficial.
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1406395404
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|title=The Awesome Power of Sleep: How Sleep Super-Charges Your Teenage Brain
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|author=Nicola Morgan
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Teens
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|summary=2020 has been a strange year: I doubt anyone would argue with that statement.  Lots of our routines have been completely dismantled and for some teenagers this will have brought about sleep problemsSome teens will dismiss this as irrelevant ('who needs sleep? - I've got loads to be doing) and others will worry unnecessarily.  Most people, from children to adults will have the odd bad night but worrying about your lack of sleep is only likely to make it worse.  And there's also the fact that for far too long, lack of sleep has been lauded as a virtue and sleep made to seem like laziness.  Being up early, working late has been praised and the ability to survive on little sleep has almost become something to put on your CV.
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Aino-Maija Metsola
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|isbn=1849767343
|title=My First Animals
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|title=Count on Me
|rating=4
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|author=Miguel Tanco
|genre=For Sharing
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|rating=4.5
|summary=Get used to two simple words if you have a child, ''What's That?''  You will hear it over and over and over again.  If you are lucky they are pointing at something that you actually know – chair, hat, my sense of regret.  Sometimes they will point at something that is not too familiar.  Here the parental practise of making something up comes into play – it's a bird type thing.  Books that show images of items, colours or animals may seem a little dull to an adult, but to a toddler learning about the world they are a who's who of what's that.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809677</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
 
|title=Rosie Revere's Big Project Book for Bold Engineers
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=For a long time now, people have worried about females taking up STEM subjects – the sciences, engineering and suchlike.  But I know of at least two sources of role models in that regard.  One, most obviously, is ''Star Wars'' – let's face it, the latest main film had a girl who scavenged parts but could fly the ''Millennium Falcon'' with ease, and the likes of [[Star Wars: Ahsoka by E K Johnston|Ahsoka]] is adept at mending some sort of flying farming machinesIf you don't wish to go too fantastical, or are seeking role models for the younger audience, there is the output of [[:Category:Andrea Beaty and David Roberts|Andrea Beaty]].
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|summary=The title and format of this book might lead you to think that it's either about responsibility - or it's a basic 1-2-3 book for those just starting out on the numbers journey.  It isn't: it's a hymn of praise to mathsIt's about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in everyday life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1419719106</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=DK
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|isbn=1849767009
|title=What's Where on Earth? Atlas: The World as You've Never Seen It Before
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|title=It Isn't Rude to be Nude
|rating=4.5
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|author=Rosie Haine
|genre=Reference
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|rating=5
|summary=I dread to think how old the atlas we used when I was a child was, but at least we had one, and I didn't need to go to school or a library to check up on whatever bit of trivia I was seekingI'm so old a lot of things about it now would be most redundant, but if you choose to risk your arm and buy an atlas for the family shelves that all generations will benefit from, as opposed to relying on electronic and updateable sources of information, then this is the one to have.
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|genre=For Sharing
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241228379</amazonuk>
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|summary=This could have been one of those books which 'preaches to the choir': the only people who'll buy it are the people who know that nudity is OK and the ones who ''know'' that it's shameful will avoid it like they avoid the hot-and-bothered person in the supermarket who is coughing fit to bust.  But... Rosie Haines makes it into something so much more than a book about not wearing clothesIt's a celebration of bodies: bodies large and small and of every possible hue.  Bodies with disabilities and markings.  They're fine.  In fact, they're wonderful.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ian Graham and Stephen Biesty
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|isbn=1776572858
|title=Stephen Biesty's Trains
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|title=How Do You Make a Baby?
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|author=Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Art
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|genre=Home and Family
|summary=Trains look imposing, but true fans (little boys, usually from about three years old and upwards) want to know what lies beneath the skin which you can see. They want to know how it worksGetting to grips with one in real life is quite a big ask, but the next best thing is ''Stephen Biesty's Trains'' which features trains from all over the world and spanning the early steam train (complete with cow catcher) right through to the trains of the future which can reach a speed of 430 kph and don't even run on railsOnce the train reaches a speed of 150 kph the wheels are raised and the train is held up by magnetic forces alone.
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|summary=It's more than sixty years since I asked how babies were made.  My mother was deeply embarrassed and told me that she'd get me a book about it.  A couple of days later I was handed a pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the basics, in clinical language which had never been used in our house before) and I was told that it wouldn't be discussed any further as it ''wasn't something which nice people talked about''I ''knew'' more, but was little ''wiser''.  Thankfully, times have changed.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783704241</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World
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|isbn=1526362759
|author=Rachel Ignotofsky
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|title=Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It
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|author=Rashmi Sirdeshpande
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=''Women in Science'' takes fifty prominent women in STEM fields and celebrates their achievements. There are women from the ancient world and women working today. Each of them is given a double page spread including a stylised portrait and infoboxes with factoids on one side and a page of text with a brief biography and outline of her achievements. These intrepid women are inspirational for their work and their discoveries but also for the barriers they overcame - barred from classes or employment because they were women or even barred from employment because they were black in racially segregated America.
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|summary=What a relief!  A book about money, for children, with clear explanations of what it is, why it matters, how to acquire more of it (nope - robbing banks is out) and what you can do with it when you've managed to get hold of it.  Your reasons for wanting money don't matter: we all need it to some extent.  You might want to go into business, be a clever shopper, a saver (you might even become an ''investor'') and there might be something you really, ''really'' want to buy. There's also the possibility of using to do good in the world.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1526360519</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=DK
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|isbn=178112938X
|title=Forest Life and Woodland Creatures
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|title=Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission
|rating=4
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|author=David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|rating=5
|summary=This book knows that if you're going to learn about forest life and the animals, plants and trees in it, then you're only going to be itching to go and explore the woods for yourselfIt's for a very young audience, so always expects an adult hand to guide you – but provides a warm companion itself through several quick and easy tasks, and a few lessons.  The balance between carrot and stick, or duty and reward, is great – but what exactly is the edutainment going to provide, and what will it demand of us?
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|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241273110</amazonuk>
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|summary=It's fifty years since the Apollo 13 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, but the story of that journey remains one of the greatest survival stories of all time.  ''Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission'' is a brilliant retelling of what happened.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=DK
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|author=Kathleen Boucher and Sara Chadwick
|title=Sharks and Other Sea Creatures
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|title=Nine Ways to Empower Tweens
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Confident Readers
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|summary=''9 Ways to Empower Tweens'' is a self-help book for tweens, setting out to show them vital #lifeskills. Don't groan! I know there is a market glut of such books for we grown-ups and for young adults too, but there is a needful space in an increasingly technological world accessible to younger and younger children for material for tweens too. 
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|isbn= 0228818826
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1609809173
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|title=Eiffel's Tower for Young People
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|author=Jill Jonnes
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Never before have I found much cause to point out the sort of lower-case, almost-a-subtitle wording on the front of a book. I say that because very little of this is about sharks – so if you have a youngster intending to come here and learn all their bloodthirsty imagination can hold, then they may well be disappointed.  If you take it on board that the 'other sea creatures' make up the bulk of the book, then all well and good. And even better, if you expect yourself to ''make'' the bulk of said creatures…
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|summary=Brash and elegant, sophisticated, controversial and vibrant, the 1889 World's Fair in Paris encompassed the best, the worst and the beautiful from many countries and cultures. The French Republic laid out model villages from all their colonies, put on art shows, dance performances, food festivals and concerts to stun the senses. And towering above it all, the most popular and the most hated monument to French accomplishment and daring – the Eiffel Tower.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241274389</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Theo Guignard
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|isbn=1848576536
|title=Labyrinth
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|title=Humanatomy: How the Body Works
|rating=4.5
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|author=Nicola Edwards and Jem Maybank
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Of all the books published for people's paper-based hobbies when I was a youngster, it's remarkable that all of them have been revisited and revamped.  I say this because they certainly weren't exactly brilliant fun back then.  No, we didn't have quite the modern style of colouring-in books, but they were available, if you'd gone beyond 'join the dots'.  I read only recently that origami is allegedly coming back – and I remember how every church book sale for years had ''Origami'', ''Origami 2'' or ''Origami 3'' paperbacks somewhere for ten pence. But the ultimate in paper-based fun back then was the use-once format of the maze book.  This is the modern equivalent – but boy, hasn't the idea grown up since then…
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|summary=''Get under your own skin, pick your brains, and go inside your insides!''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809987</amazonuk>
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That's what ''Humanatomy'' invites you to do and honestly, I don't see how you could resist. This informative book provides a wonderful primer about the human body to curious children- from the skeletal system to the muscular system via circulation, respiration and digestion, right up to the DNA that makes who we are.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano
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|isbn=Langford_Emily
|title=Life on Earth: Farm: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps!
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|title=Emily's Numbers
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|author=Joss Langford
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=I'm sure I was full of questions when I was a nipper – which means I was too full of questionsParents just don't need to be deflecting questions all the time, do they?  Living on the edge of a village in the middle of nowhere as I did, I knew quite a lot about farms and farming – that different animals gave different results, that different vehicles meant different things and that the crops behind our house changedBut for the inner city child, there is a chance they have never met a cow or seen a silo.  This colourful book, bright in both senses of the word, will allow the very young reader the opportunity of their own fantasy trip to the working countryside.
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|summary=Emily found words ''useful'', but counting was what she loved bestObviously, you can count anything and there's no limit to how far you can go, but then Emily moved a step further and began counting in twos.  She knew all about odd and even numbers.  Then she began counting in threes: half of the list were even numbers, but the other half was odd and it was this list of odd numbers which occurred when you counted in threes which she called ''threeven''(Actually, this confused me a little bit at first as they're a subset of the odd numbers but sound as though they ought to be a subset of the even numbers, but it all worked out well when I really thought about it.)
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847808999</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano
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|isbn=Buckingham_Dawn
|title=Life on Earth: Human Body: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps!
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|title=The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus
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|author=Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|summary=I wonder how much time I've saved in not being a parent – and therefore not having had to answer such pesky questions as why is the sky blue, where did I come from, where does my wee come from, what is earwax, and why do I have a spleen?  Still, apart from the first two, those questions and the answers to them and more are in this book, which is a lovely primer for biology, and a great source of quick facts for the very young, all presented with an addictive lift-the-flap approach.
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|summary=What a treat!  I really did mean to just ''glance'' at ''The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus'' but the pull of the sounds of a dozen different birds singing their hearts out was far too much to resist on a cold and rather wet February morning.  I spent an indulgent hour or so reading all about the birds and listening to their song.  Then - just because I could - I went back and did it all again and it was just as good the second time around.  So, what do you get?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809006</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Clare Hibbert
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|isbn=Pankhurst_Women
|title=Moments in History that Changed the World
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|title=Fantastically Great Women Who Made History
|rating=4
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|author=Kate Pankhurst
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=One of the problems with presenting humankind's history as a timeline is that not a lot happened at perfectly identified times. Of course we can pinpoint when the US Declaration of Independence was signed, or when Poland was invaded in September 1939, but when (and even why) the Maya cities died out?  We don't know. How do you pin a date to the Renaissance, or the invention of the modern city?  This book may aim to be a portrayal of key moments in time, but even it admits you have to be vague in itemising the specific days and dates.  Get over that, and the pages are packed with information.
+
|summary=A lot of history is about men. Kings and generals and inventors and politicians. Sometimes, it feels almost as though there were no women in history at all, let alone ones young girls might like to read about or regard as role models. Of course, this isn't true and there are plenty of women who, throughout history, have achieved amazing things or shown incredible bravery, or created something never seen before. So here, in this wonderful picture book from Kate Pankhurst, are the stories of some of them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712356703</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=DK
+
|isbn=Ignotofsky_Sport
|title=Baby Dinosaurs (Follow the Trail)
+
|title=Women in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win
|rating=4
+
|author=Rachel Ignotofsky
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary= If you ever have the misfortune to stumble across some as yet undiscovered dinosaur I offer this piece of advice; don't take your finger and track their spine, don't put it in their mouth and don't go following them to their parent.  Instead, run.  Run faster than you have ever run before in the opposite direction.  The unfortunate thing is that anyone with a toddler knows, they love to grab and poke anything – including terrible lizards if they got the chance. Better play safe than sorry and just get them a book that allows them to get their dinosaur touching thrills vicariously. 
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241273129</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Chris Packham and Jason Cockcroft
 
|title=Amazing Animal Babies
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Many children love animals, but they love baby animals even more.  Would you rather watch a dog or watch a puppy?  A cat or a kitten?  A meerkat or a smaller meerkat?  The answer is a no brainer to most children who enjoy the wide-eyed stumbling of youth that is not dissimilar to their own.  However, someone needs to give them the facts about baby animals and who better than wildlife presenter Chris Packham?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405277467</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Martin Jenkins and Stephen Biesty
 
|title=Exploring Space: From Galileo to the Mars Rover and Beyond
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=I take it as read that you know some of the history of space exploration, even if the young person you buy books for doesn't know it all.  So I won't go into the extremes reached by the ''Voyager'' space craft, and the processes we needed to be expert in before we could launch anything.  You probably have some inkling of how we learnt that we're not the centre of everything – the gradual discovery of how curved the planet was, and how other things orbited other things in turn proving we are not that around which everything revolves.  What you might not be so genned up on is the history of books conveying all this to a young audience.  When I was a nipper they were stately texts, with a few accurate diagrams – if you were lucky.  For a long time now, however, they've been anything but stately, and often aren't worried about accuracy as such in their visual design.  They certainly long ago shod the boring, plain white page.  Until now…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406360082</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie
 
|title= Pairs Underwater
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary= Following on from [[Pairs in the Garden by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie]], comes the aquatic themed ''Pairs Underwater''. It's a lift-the-flap book with the added twist of a game of ''Memory'' thrown in, as you try to match the pairs across each double page spread.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847808824</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Frau Isa
 
|title=Little People, Big Dreams: Marie Curie
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Some little girls want to be princesses, but the girl who would become Marie Curie wanted to be a scientist. She was from a poor family in Warsaw but she was determined to do well and won a gold medal for her studies.  In Poland, in the middle of the nineteenth century, only men were allowed to go to University, so Marie moved to Paris where she had to study in an unfamiliar language, but was soon the best maths and science student. It was here that she met and married Pierre Curie, another scientist and they jointly discovered radium and polonium: they would eventually win the Nobel Prize for Physics for this work.  Marie was the first woman to receive the honour.  Pierre was killed in a road accident, but Marie went on to win a second Nobel Prize, this time for Chemistry. Her work is still benefiting people today.
+
|summary=''Women in Sport'' is coming to us just before the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February 2018. It celebrates a century and a half of the development of women's sport by looking at fifty of its highest achievers, covering sports as diverse as swimming, fencing, riding, skating, and much more. Think of a sport and a pioneering woman succeeding at it is probably in this book somewhere. Each entry is a double-page spread with a brief biography and a striking portrait.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809618</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Isabel Sanchez Vegara and Elisa Munso
+
|isbn=Rooney_Dino
|title=Little People, Big Dreams: Agatha Christie
+
|title=Discovering Dinosaurs
 +
|author=Anne Rooney and Suzanne Carpenter
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=As a child Agatha Christie and her mother would read a book together every afternoon, but there were early signs of what the future novelist would become: she always had a better idea about how the story should end.  She would read in bed at night and detective novels were always her favourites.  In the First World War Agatha, who was then in her early twenties, nursed wounded soldiers in hospitals: her experiences with poisons and toxic potions would be put to good use when her first detective novels were published just after the end of the war.  Most people have heard of her first and most famous detective - Hercule Poirot - or of Miss Marple. Mrs Christie's novels were widely read and her plays were very popular in theatres.
+
|summary=Lift the flap books have progressed somewhat since I was a child. This one comes with sounds! Taking us layer by layer, through various different ages of dinosaurs, we meet a variety of creatures, some of whom are very familiar but some I'd never heard of before! Each scene peels open, layer by layer, showing you what the various dinosaurs are getting up to, with background noises, roars and squawks to accompany them! The book creates a dinosaur experience, rather than just being facts about dinosaurs it's very visual, placing the dinosaurs in their habitats and giving us sounds too that spike your imagination.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847809596</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie
+
|isbn=Mason_poo
|title= Pairs in the Garden
+
|title=The Poo That Animals Do
|rating= 4
+
|author=Paul Mason and Tony de Saulles
|genre= Children's Non-Fiction
+
|rating=5
|summary=''Pairs in the garden'' is a fun book/game hybrid for little fingers into creepy crawlies. It's a lift-the-flap book with a difference, because not only do you get to see what's underneath, you then must see if you can find a matching pair. But beware! You cannot just use process of elimination because there are 7 flaps on each page, but only 3 pairs to find. One poor creature is all alone with no partner.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847808832</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Marc Martin
 
|title=Lots
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=The children's encyclopaedia is not the same genre as those used by adults.  Whilst the older generation had to make do with giant tomes filled with information and perhaps, if you are lucky, a small black and white picture every now and again; the kids get full colour books with more images than facts.  ''Lots'' by Marc Martin takes this even further by reducing the facts even further and bombarding your eyeballs with illustrations.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783704659</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Krystyna Mihulka and Krystyna Poray Goddu
 
|title=Krysia: A Polish Girl's Stolen Childhood During World War II
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Most of us would think of Polish children suffering in World War Two because of the Nazi death camps – they and their families suffering through countless round-ups, ghettoization, and transport to the end of the line, where they might by hint or dint survive to tell the horrid tale.  But most of us would think of such Polish children as Jewish victims of the Holocaust.  This book opens the eyes up in a most vivid fashion to those who were not Jewish.  They did not get resettled in the Nazi ''Lebensraum'', but were sent miles away to the East.  Krysia's family were split up, partly due to her father being a Polish reservist when the Nazis invaded, and then courtesy of Stalin, who had [[The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941 by Roger Moorhouse|signed a pact]] with Hitler dividing the country between the two states, before they turned bitter enemies.  Krysia's family, living in the eastern city of Lwow, were packed up and sent – in the stereotypical cattle train – east.  And east, and east – right the way across the continent to rural Kazakhstan, and a communal farm in the middle of anonymous desert, deep in Communist Soviet lands. Proof, if proof were needed, that that horrendous war still carries narratives that will be new to us…
+
|summary=I know, I know, sometimes you really don't want to encourage your children's poo jokes, but this book is brilliant! I sat and read it by myself when the kids had gone to school and found it fascinating! Who knew there was so much I didn't know about poo? The book manages to be both funny (and silly) as well as being very interesting and educational. Using a mixture of facts and figures, photographs and funny cartoons, you come away having sniggered a little at the vulture who poos on its own feet but also knowing a lot about different types of poo, why poos smell, and why wombats do square poos.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1613734417</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Children's Rhymes and Verse Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 13:29, 9 September 2023

1839948493.jpg

Review of

A World of Dogs by Carlie Sorosiak and Luisa Uribe

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that I'm a sucker for dogs. In nearly eight decades, I've never met one I didn't trust and I've loved most of them. I wish I felt the same about human beings. So, any book about dogs, I'm going to sit down and devour. Then I'm going to go back and read it properly. And so it was with A World of Dogs, with ninety-six pages devoted entirely to my four-legged friends. Author Carlie Sorosiak found herself the accidental owner of an American Dingo - she's learned quite a lot about dogs since then. Full Review

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Review of

The Repair Shop Craft Book by Walker Books and Sonia Albert (Illustrator)

4.5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

I love The Repair Shop. It's my go-to programme when I want to be cheered up. After a hard day, there's nothing better than watching experts repair treasured items without ever mentioning what they're worth. You see, the value is in what these possessions are worth to the people who own them and the memories they hold. No expense appears to be spared and the experts spend as much time and effort as is required to achieve the desired result. Regular viewers know the experts and they're all brilliant at explaining what it is they're doing. But how did they start? Full Review

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Review of

Stolen History by Sathnam Sanghera

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

I was the bad company other people got into at school. I was disruptive in religious education classes because I disputed the existence of a 'god'. Where was the proof? In history lessons, it was probably worse still. Not too long after the end of WWII, I didn't so much want to learn about the British army's successes (and occasional failures, but we didn't dwell on those) in what came to be called 'the colonies' as want to dispute what right the army had to be there in the first place. Looking back, I still believe I was right - but I regret that I lacked the maturity to approach 'the problem' politely. I wish I'd had Sathnam Sanghera's Stolen History. Full Review

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Review of

Fritz and Kurt by Jeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene

4star.jpg Confident Readers

We start with the pair of brothers Fritz and Kurt, and their muckers, doing things any Jewish lad in 1930s Vienna would want to do – kicking things around the empty market place, helping the neighbours, being dutiful when it comes to the synagogue choir and at a vocational school. Kurt has to make sure the lamps are turned on at their very Orthodox neighbours' each Friday night – the Sabbath preventing them for using anything nearly as mechanical and workmanlike as a light switch. But this is the time just before the Austrian leader is going to cave to Hitler's will, and instead of having a national vote to keep the Nazis out, invite them in with open arms. Kristallnacht happened in Vienna just as much as in Germany, as did all the round-ups of Jews. These in their turn leave the younger Kurt at home with his mother and sisters anxious to hear word of an evacuation to Britain or the US, while Fritz and his father are, unknown initially to each other, packed off on the same train to Buchenwald and the stone quarry there. And us wondering how the titular event for the adult variant of all this could come about… Full Review

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Review of

Britannica's Word of the Day by Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

Britannica's Word of the Day has a sub-title: 366 Elevating Utterances to Stretch Your Cranium and Tickle Your Humerus which probably tells you all that you need to know about this brilliant book. It starts on January 1st with Razzmatazz, tells you how to pronounce it (raz-muh-TAZ), gives you a definition and then includes the word in a sentence so that you know how it should be used. You also get an engaging and frequently amusing illustration too. I don't think I've ever encountered a word which uses the letter Z four times before! Full Review

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Review of

The Secret Life of Birds by Moira Butterfield and Vivian Mineker (illustrator)

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

I have recently discovered a great pleasure: I sit and watch the vast numbers of birds which visit our garden on a daily basis. An hour can pass without my noticing. I've established which species feed from the ground, which pop to the feeders for a quick snatch of some food and who settles in for a good munch but I wish I was more knowledgeable. It would have been wonderful if, as a child, I'd had access to a book such as The Secret Life of Birds. So – what is it? Full Review

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Review of

Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs by Isabel Thomas

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

'Germs' seems to have become a catch-all word to cover anything unpleasant which has the potential to make you ill. In the first book in what looks to be a very promising new series, OUP and Isabel Thomas have provided a clear and accessible introduction to the world of germs. We get an informed look at how people originally thought about diseases and what they thought caused them and how the thinking has developed over time. The vocabulary can be confusing but Thomas gives a regular box headed 'speak like a scientist' which explains some of the trickiest concepts and you'll soon be familiar with bacteria, fungi, protists and viruses – and how we should protect ourselves. Full Review

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Review of

100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths: Support All Areas of Your Baby’s Development by Nurturing a Love of Maths by Emma Smith

4.5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

Babies seem to be born with an amazing number sense: understanding shapes in the womb, being aware of quantities at seven hours old, assessing probability at six months old, and comprehending addition and subtraction at nine months old.

Did you know this? I didn't! How about:

Maths ability on entry to school is a strong predictor of later achievement, double that of literacy skills.

I didn't know this either! I think most parents are aware that giving your children a good start in literacy - reading stories, teaching pen grips, singing rhymes - gives children a solid foundation when they start school. But do we think the same way about maths, beyond counting? I don't think we do, in part because so many of us are afraid of maths. But why are we? Most of us use maths in daily life without realising and it follows that giving our children a similar pre-school grounding will be just as beneficial. Full Review

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Review of

The Awesome Power of Sleep: How Sleep Super-Charges Your Teenage Brain by Nicola Morgan

5star.jpg Teens

2020 has been a strange year: I doubt anyone would argue with that statement. Lots of our routines have been completely dismantled and for some teenagers this will have brought about sleep problems. Some teens will dismiss this as irrelevant ('who needs sleep? - I've got loads to be doing) and others will worry unnecessarily. Most people, from children to adults will have the odd bad night but worrying about your lack of sleep is only likely to make it worse. And there's also the fact that for far too long, lack of sleep has been lauded as a virtue and sleep made to seem like laziness. Being up early, working late has been praised and the ability to survive on little sleep has almost become something to put on your CV. Full Review

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Review of

Count on Me by Miguel Tanco

4.5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

The title and format of this book might lead you to think that it's either about responsibility - or it's a basic 1-2-3 book for those just starting out on the numbers journey. It isn't: it's a hymn of praise to maths. It's about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in everyday life. Full Review

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Review of

It Isn't Rude to be Nude by Rosie Haine

5star.jpg For Sharing

This could have been one of those books which 'preaches to the choir': the only people who'll buy it are the people who know that nudity is OK and the ones who know that it's shameful will avoid it like they avoid the hot-and-bothered person in the supermarket who is coughing fit to bust. But... Rosie Haines makes it into something so much more than a book about not wearing clothes. It's a celebration of bodies: bodies large and small and of every possible hue. Bodies with disabilities and markings. They're fine. In fact, they're wonderful. Full Review

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Review of

How Do You Make a Baby? by Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)

5star.jpg Home and Family

It's more than sixty years since I asked how babies were made. My mother was deeply embarrassed and told me that she'd get me a book about it. A couple of days later I was handed a pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the basics, in clinical language which had never been used in our house before) and I was told that it wouldn't be discussed any further as it wasn't something which nice people talked about. I knew more, but was little wiser. Thankfully, times have changed. Full Review

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Review of

Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It by Rashmi Sirdeshpande

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

What a relief! A book about money, for children, with clear explanations of what it is, why it matters, how to acquire more of it (nope - robbing banks is out) and what you can do with it when you've managed to get hold of it. Your reasons for wanting money don't matter: we all need it to some extent. You might want to go into business, be a clever shopper, a saver (you might even become an investor) and there might be something you really, really want to buy. There's also the possibility of using to do good in the world. Full Review

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Review of

Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission by David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)

5star.jpg Dyslexia Friendly

It's fifty years since the Apollo 13 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, but the story of that journey remains one of the greatest survival stories of all time. Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission is a brilliant retelling of what happened. Full Review

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Review of

Nine Ways to Empower Tweens by Kathleen Boucher and Sara Chadwick

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

9 Ways to Empower Tweens is a self-help book for tweens, setting out to show them vital #lifeskills. Don't groan! I know there is a market glut of such books for we grown-ups and for young adults too, but there is a needful space in an increasingly technological world accessible to younger and younger children for material for tweens too. Full Review

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Review of

Eiffel's Tower for Young People by Jill Jonnes

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

Brash and elegant, sophisticated, controversial and vibrant, the 1889 World's Fair in Paris encompassed the best, the worst and the beautiful from many countries and cultures. The French Republic laid out model villages from all their colonies, put on art shows, dance performances, food festivals and concerts to stun the senses. And towering above it all, the most popular and the most hated monument to French accomplishment and daring – the Eiffel Tower. Full Review

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Review of

Humanatomy: How the Body Works by Nicola Edwards and Jem Maybank

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

Get under your own skin, pick your brains, and go inside your insides!

That's what Humanatomy invites you to do and honestly, I don't see how you could resist. This informative book provides a wonderful primer about the human body to curious children- from the skeletal system to the muscular system via circulation, respiration and digestion, right up to the DNA that makes who we are. Full Review

Langford Emily.jpg

Review of

Emily's Numbers by Joss Langford

4star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

Emily found words useful, but counting was what she loved best. Obviously, you can count anything and there's no limit to how far you can go, but then Emily moved a step further and began counting in twos. She knew all about odd and even numbers. Then she began counting in threes: half of the list were even numbers, but the other half was odd and it was this list of odd numbers which occurred when you counted in threes which she called threeven. (Actually, this confused me a little bit at first as they're a subset of the odd numbers but sound as though they ought to be a subset of the even numbers, but it all worked out well when I really thought about it.) Full Review

Buckingham Dawn.jpg

Review of

The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus by Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington

5star.jpg Animals and Wildlife

What a treat! I really did mean to just glance at The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus but the pull of the sounds of a dozen different birds singing their hearts out was far too much to resist on a cold and rather wet February morning. I spent an indulgent hour or so reading all about the birds and listening to their song. Then - just because I could - I went back and did it all again and it was just as good the second time around. So, what do you get? Full Review

Pankhurst Women.jpg

Review of

Fantastically Great Women Who Made History by Kate Pankhurst

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

A lot of history is about men. Kings and generals and inventors and politicians. Sometimes, it feels almost as though there were no women in history at all, let alone ones young girls might like to read about or regard as role models. Of course, this isn't true and there are plenty of women who, throughout history, have achieved amazing things or shown incredible bravery, or created something never seen before. So here, in this wonderful picture book from Kate Pankhurst, are the stories of some of them. Full Review

Ignotofsky Sport.jpg

Review of

Women in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win by Rachel Ignotofsky

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

Women in Sport is coming to us just before the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February 2018. It celebrates a century and a half of the development of women's sport by looking at fifty of its highest achievers, covering sports as diverse as swimming, fencing, riding, skating, and much more. Think of a sport and a pioneering woman succeeding at it is probably in this book somewhere. Each entry is a double-page spread with a brief biography and a striking portrait. Full Review

Rooney Dino.jpg

Review of

Discovering Dinosaurs by Anne Rooney and Suzanne Carpenter

4star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

Lift the flap books have progressed somewhat since I was a child. This one comes with sounds! Taking us layer by layer, through various different ages of dinosaurs, we meet a variety of creatures, some of whom are very familiar but some I'd never heard of before! Each scene peels open, layer by layer, showing you what the various dinosaurs are getting up to, with background noises, roars and squawks to accompany them! The book creates a dinosaur experience, rather than just being facts about dinosaurs it's very visual, placing the dinosaurs in their habitats and giving us sounds too that spike your imagination. Full Review

Mason poo.jpg

Review of

The Poo That Animals Do by Paul Mason and Tony de Saulles

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

I know, I know, sometimes you really don't want to encourage your children's poo jokes, but this book is brilliant! I sat and read it by myself when the kids had gone to school and found it fascinating! Who knew there was so much I didn't know about poo? The book manages to be both funny (and silly) as well as being very interesting and educational. Using a mixture of facts and figures, photographs and funny cartoons, you come away having sniggered a little at the vulture who poos on its own feet but also knowing a lot about different types of poo, why poos smell, and why wombats do square poos. Full Review

Move on to Newest Children's Rhymes and Verse Reviews