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

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[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction|*]]
 
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{{Frontpage
*[[image:Ignotofsky_Sport.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1526360926?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1526360926]]
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|isbn=1839948493
 
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|title=A World of Dogs
===[[Women in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win by Rachel Ignotofsky]]===
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|author=Carlie Sorosiak and Luisa Uribe
 
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|rating=5
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Children's Non-Fiction|Children's Non-Fiction]]
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
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|summary=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.
''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 women succeeding at it is probably in this book somewhere. Each entry is a double page spread with a brief biography and a striking portrait. [[Women in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win by Rachel Ignotofsky|Full Review]]
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529507987
|author=Anne Rooney and Suzanne Carpenter
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|title=The Repair Shop Craft Book
|title=Discovering Dinosaurs
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|author=Walker Books and Sonia Albert (Illustrator)
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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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 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?
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=024162343X
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|title=Stolen History
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|author=Sathnam Sanghera
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|rating=5
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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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 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''.
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Jeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene
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|title=Fritz and Kurt
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
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|genre=Confident Readers
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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…
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|isbn=024156574X
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1913750353
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|title=Britannica's Word of the Day
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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=Lift the flap books have progressed somewhat since I was a childThis 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.   
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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 basisAn 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784938750</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Paul Mason and Tony de Saulles
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|isbn=0192779230
|title=The Poo That Animals Do
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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=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 educationalUsing 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.
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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 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 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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1526303949</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1800464495
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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
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|author=Emma Smith
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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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.''
  
<!-- Wood -->
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Did you know this? I didn't! How about:
*[[image:Wood_Gothic.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1419725335?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1419725335]]
 
 
 
===[[American Gothic: The Life of Grant Wood by Susan Wood and Ross MacDonald]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Non-Fiction|Children's Non-Fiction]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Art|Art]]
 
  
Who won a national prize for a crayon drawing of three oak leaves before he was properly in his teens? Who sought acclaim as an artist and came to Europe to study from the greats, only to reject all they had to offer? Who instinctively knew a picture of his dentist (yes, his dentist) would be more appealing and say more to people than floating water lilies and frilly ballet dancers? The answer in all cases was Grant Wood, practically the most well-known painter in America at one time, and still the best, alongside Edward Hopper, at presenting his world minus any Modernist trappings. [[American Gothic: The Life of Grant Wood by Susan Wood and Ross MacDonald|Full Review]]
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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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{{newreview
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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.
|author=Stuart Hill and Sandra Lawrence
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|title=The Atlas of Monsters
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{{Frontpage
|rating=4
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|isbn=1406395404
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|title=The Awesome Power of Sleep: How Sleep Super-Charges Your Teenage Brain
|summary=There are monsters and mysterious characters, such as trolls, leprechauns, goblins and minotaurs. They're the stuff of far too many stories to remain mysterious, and every schoolchild should know all about them.  There are monsters and mysterious characters, such as Gog and Magog, Scylla and Charybdis, and the bunyip.  They are what you find if you take an interest in this kind of thing to the next level; even if you cannot place them all on a map you should have come across them. But there are monsters and mysterious characters, such as the dobhar-chu, the llambigyn y dwr, and the girtablili. To gain any knowledge of them you really need a book that knows its stuff.  A book like this one…
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|author=Nicola Morgan
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783706961</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
 
|author=Lily Murray and Chris Wormell
 
|title=Dinosaurium (Welcome to the Museum)
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Popular Science
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|genre=Teens
|summary=One of the selling points for entities like the ''Jurassic Park'' films is that they bring all the high-energy action of dinosaur life to the screen, in a way that is suitable, they would say, for children of all agesBut there is a very different way of going about thingsThis book does feature dinosaur-on-dinosaur combat, but only in presenting the most scientific of fossil remainsIt delves into the evolutionary life of what we have long loved to enjoy and all the major scientific developments for the most inquisitive student, so the book is actually worth considering in a very different wayI would say this is ideal for ''adults'' of all ages.
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|summary=2020 has been a strange year: I doubt anyone would argue with that statementLots 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 worseAnd 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 lazinessBeing up early, working late has been praised and the ability to survive on little sleep has almost become something to put on your CV.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783707925</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Susanna Tee and Santy Gutierrez
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|isbn=1849767343
|title=This Cookbook is Gross
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|title=Count on Me
|rating=4
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|author=Miguel Tanco
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The misuse of language is a modern disease.  Too many times something is described as awesome or stupendous, but were you truly awed by it?  Or stupefied?  People just seem to pluck words out of the ether and pretend that they are the correct onesAre the recipes in Susanna Tee and Santy Gutierrez's 'This Cookbook is Gross' truly gross?  For once the language is not overplayed.  These recipes may taste nice, but in appearance they are absolutely vile.
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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 journeyIt 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784938289</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Jojo Siwa
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|isbn=1849767009
|title= Jojo's Guide to the Sweet Life
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|title=It Isn't Rude to be Nude
|rating= 5
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|author=Rosie Haine
|genre= Children's Non-Fiction
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|rating=5
|summary= JoJo with the Bow Bow has written a Book Book! And without meaning to sound like my expectations were low, it was surprisingly good. I say this because we know JoJo as the girl from ''Dance Moms'' with the outspoken mother (well, one of the outspoken mothers) who is known for her dancing and the big bows she wears, more than for her brains. And yet this book shows us another side, a side in which she is an articulate, insightful and intelligent young woman.  
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|genre=For Sharing
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1419728172</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 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.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Rob Beattie and Sam Peet
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|isbn=1776572858
|title= Stupendous Science
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|title=How Do You Make a Baby?
|rating= 5
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|author=Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)
|genre= Popular Science
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|rating=5
|summary=Education should be fun. We learn best when we are engaged with practical, enjoyable tasks. That's the secret behind the experiments in ''Stupendous Science.'' They have the fun element, the 'wow factor,' and most importantly, can be easily replicated with items that are readily available in the home. Each experiment teaches an important scientific concept; essentially teaching through play.
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|genre=Home and Family
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784938467</amazonuk>
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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.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Gianni Sarcone and Marie Jo Waeber
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|isbn=1526362759
|title= Optical Illusions
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|title=Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It
|rating= 5
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|author=Rashmi Sirdeshpande
|genre= Popular Science
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|rating=5
|summary=I used to work as a library assistant and I remember arriving to work one morning to find all of my fellow librarians crowded around a book, chattering excitedly and...squinting rather oddly. The book was called ''Magic Eye'' and promised a magical 3D viewing experience if you looked at the psychadelic pictures in a certain way. For a brief period in the early 90s, the pictures had a sudden spike in popularity, until everyone presumably got eye strain and went back to their everyday lives. Well good news Magic Eye fans! The pictures are back (albeit only two images), in the engrossing and immersive new book ''Optical Illusions.''
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784938475</amazonuk>
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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.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Joey Chou
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|isbn=178112938X
|title=Make and Play: Nativity
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|title=Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission
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|author=David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=I always feel a slight disappointment for children at Christmas when they're presented with a tree to decorate with a box of ornaments and a nativity scene (sometimes quite precious, so it's Not To Be Played With) which is set up Somewhere Safe.  Where's the imagination, the creativity, the sense of pride in that? How much better to have a child create their own nativity scene, which they can then play with?  That's exactly what they get with Joey Chou's ''Make and Play Nativity''.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1788000064</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Philip Parker
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|author=Kathleen Boucher and Sara Chadwick
|title=50 Things You Should Know About the Vikings
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|title=Nine Ways to Empower Tweens
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction 
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|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=The Vikings have got a lot to own up to. A huge DNA study in 2014 was the first thing that proved to the Orkney residents that they had Viking blood in their veins – they had been insisting it was that of the Irish. The Vikings it was that forced our English king's army to march from London to Yorkshire to kill off one invasion, only to spend the next fortnight schlepping back to Hastings to try and fend off another – and the Normans had the same Norse origin as the first lot, hence the name. There is a Thames Valley village just outside Henley – ie pretty damned far from the coast – that has a Viking longship on its signpost.  Yes, they got to a lot of places, from Greenland to Kiev, from Murmansk to Turkey and the Med, and their misaligned history is well worth visiting particularly on these pages.
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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.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784937908</amazonuk>
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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
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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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.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Emily Hawkins and Lucy Letherland
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|isbn=1848576536
|title=Atlas of Dinosaur Adventures: Step Into a Prehistoric World
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|title=Humanatomy: How the Body Works
|rating=4
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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=You might think, what with books about dinosaurs being just as varied (and almost as old) as dinosaurs themselves, that there was little to say about them that hadn't been said, and few new ways of giving us information about them.  Well, I would put it to you that this is a novel variant. Over many jumbo spreads, we get a different dinosaur in a different situation each time, whether it be being born, being slain or learning to fly, and the book gives us all the usual facts, not in chronological order, nor in some other more spurious fashion, but grouped by where these dinosaurs lived.  The continent-wide chapters have several entrants in each, and what with the book hitting all corners of our current globe, it brings the world of dinosaur remains right to our door, and makes this old subject feel remarkably new…
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|summary=''Get under your own skin, pick your brains, and go inside your insides!''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786030349</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=David Long and Harry Bloom
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|isbn=Langford_Emily
|title=Pirates Magnified: With a 3x Magnifying Glass
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|title=Emily's Numbers
|rating=4.5
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|author=Joss Langford
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|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=It's becoming easier and easier to spot books for the young about pirates – that surely is about the only career from the seventeenth century that gets so many volumes produced about itIt must be a combination of the derring-do, the illegality, and of course the fancy dress and silly speak that appeals – nowhere else would you see a youngster studying one country's attacks on another, and reading about how treasures, slaves and other resources changed handsThis volume, however, tries its best to stand out, and has adopted the equally prevalent concept of getting the reader to pore over large dioramas to seek the small detail hidden in the images.  For once, though, there's a thoroughly educative reasoning behind it.
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|summary=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 numbersThen 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>1786030276</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Caroline Alliston
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|isbn=Buckingham_Dawn
|title= Build It! 25 Creative STEM Projects for Budding Engineers
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|title=The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus
|rating= 4
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|author=Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington
|genre= Popular Science
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|rating=5
|summary=''Build It! 25 Creative STEM Projects for Budding Engineers'' takes a strictly hands-on approach to science to show how scientific ideas can be applied to real-world situations. The book contains 25 projects with varying degrees of complexity to demonstrate topics such as air travel, programmable machines, light, motion and electricity. The book is designed with the younger scientist in mind, so there is a focus on the fun aspect, with many of the projects involving toys.
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|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784938483</amazonuk>
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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?
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Laura Knowles and Chris Madden
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|isbn=Pankhurst_Women
|title=We Travel So Far
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|title=Fantastically Great Women Who Made History
|rating=4.5
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|author=Kate Pankhurst
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The lead singer of Foreigner said ''I've travelled so far to change this lonely life.''  Well, he's gone nowhere in comparison to many of these creatures, who probably wouldn't call their life lonely, either.  Masses of animals gather, herd, school, and fly in unison, and all make their migration to change their lives.  Some hide from the danger of winter storms, many seek the food they need before hibernation or their first meals after breeding, some just trot up a volcano to lay eggs in the one place they know will keep them warm.  It might seem to be an unusual approach – having a sparsely-texted book solely about one aspect of animal nature, but on this evidence it's an approach that certainly works.
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|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>1910277339</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=DK
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|isbn=Ignotofsky_Sport
|title=13½ Incredible Things You Need to Know About Everything
+
|title=Women in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win
|rating=3.5
+
|author=Rachel Ignotofsky
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Having the Internet in the home for a child to learn from is all well and good, but it won't replace an encyclopaedia.  For one thing, there definitely is an instance of having too much of a good thing – it is no use for the young mind to be exposed to every bit of knowledge we may have amassed.  No, you need someone authoritative enough to come along and collate the important bits, letting you learn just enough, and the key things you do need to know, all from one place.  This book doesn't really term itself as an encyclopaedia, that has to be said, but its large format puts it on the shelf next to them, and its colourful and educative mien proves it's a very close relative, at least of the modern kind. What it has decided to do is to structure the world into certain subjects, and to give us 13½ facts regarding every topic.  And what a diverse range of topics it has amassed.
+
|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>0241238935</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=DK
+
|isbn=Rooney_Dino
|title=My Encyclopedia of Very Important Animals
+
|title=Discovering Dinosaurs
|rating=4.5
+
|author=Anne Rooney and Suzanne Carpenter
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The animal kingdom is a diverse one, full of creatures that do all sorts of things.  The number of animals out there is so vast that even vets need to do a quick google when something strange appears in their practice.  For budding vet-to-be animals are a constant source of fascination and they will absorb as much knowledge as you can give them.  It is not practical to visit the zoo every day, but getting an educational and entertaining animal encylopedia is.
+
|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>0241276357</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=DK
+
|isbn=Mason_poo
|title=DK Children's Encyclopedia
+
|title=The Poo That Animals Do
|rating=4.5
+
|author=Paul Mason and Tony de Saulles
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=More than sixty years ago my grandparents bought me an encylopedia: it was a major purchase for them as they didn't really ''do'' books, but it was a treasure trove for me and I still have it today.  It didn't just teach me facts - it taught me how to find out information for myself and how to use an index.  It opened my eyes to subjects I'd never considered and widened my knowledge on those I already loved. In format, in size and content it was very similar to ''DK Children's Encyclopedia'' and I can imagine a younger me hunched over it and begging just to be allowed to finish this bit before I went to bed.
+
|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>0241283868</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano
 
|title=Life on Earth: Dinosaurs: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps!
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=I was a big fan of dinosaurs when I was a nipper.  Since then the science regarding them has evolved leaps and bounds.  We've got in touch with them perhaps being feathered, and have assumed colours and noises they made – we can even extrapolate from their remains what their eyesight, hearing and so much more may have been like.  But science will never stop, and the next generation will need to be on board with the job of discovering them, analysing them, and presenting them to a world that never seems to get enough of the nasty, superlative beasties of Hollywood renown.  As you're the kind of person to ask questions, you may well ask 'how do you get that next generation ready for their place in the field and in the laboratory?'  I would put this as the answer – even if it is made itself of a hundred questions.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847808972</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Children's Rhymes and Verse Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 13:29, 9 September 2023

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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

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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