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

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[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Children's Non-Fiction]]
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==Children's non-fiction==
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1839948493
{{newreview
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|title=A World of Dogs
|author=Steve Martin
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|author=Carlie Sorosiak and Luisa Uribe
|title=Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy: Cool Ways to Remember Stuff
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|rating=5
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=When I look back on my school days it didn't seem terribly complicated, but when I see what my grandchildren are coping with I'm ''amazed'' at all that they have to rememberThey need to have methods of jogging their memories.  'Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy' gives them lots of ways of remembering a rich variety of facts, but also shows them how they can develop their own ways of helping their memoryIt's a book about mnemonics such as rhymes, acrostics, stories, grouping, linking, pictures, acronyms and wordplay.  It's not just the methods of remembering that are there - there are all sorts of facts in with the methods.
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780551053</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529507987
|author=Sarah Goldschadt
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|title=The Repair Shop Craft Book
|title=Craft-A-Day: 365 Simple Handmade Projects
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|author=Walker Books and Sonia Albert (Illustrator)
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Looking back on my childhood the most useful skill I acquired was that of making thingsI was the daughter of a man who made a greenhouse out of a derelict bus, so it was inevitable that something would rub off on meWell over half a century later it still stands me in good stead: I can see ''how'' to make things, ''how'' to solve problems and my imagination was fired up at an early stageNot everyone is lucky enough to have a bus-to-greenhouse converter in-house, but the best start is being encouraged to make things ''regularly'' and learning that you don't always have to buy everything you needA drum roll, please for Sarah Goldschadt's ''Craft-A-Day''.
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|summary=I love ''The Repair Shop''.  It's my go-to programme when I want to be cheered upAfter a hard day, there's nothing better than watching experts repair treasured items without ever mentioning what they're worthYou 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>1594745951</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=024162343X
|author=Robert Leroy Ripley
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|title=Stolen History
|title=Ripley's Believe It or Not 2013
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|author=Sathnam Sanghera
|rating=4
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|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=You know it's getting near Christmas when you spot the annual Ripley's ''Believe It or Not'',  the celebration of all that's macabre, shocking, gruesome and frequently downright revolting - and that's just the people.  Just wait until you get to the non-human items.  We don't usually cover annuals at Bookbag because they've frequently gone out of fashion before too many months have passed, but these books can be read year after year  and they're still going to make the average adult feel rather unwell.  Yes - you're right.  Kids are going to love it.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847946739</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Fiona Foden
 
|title=How to be Gorgeous: Smart Ways to Look and Feel Fabulous
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The first point that author Fiona Foden stresses is that this is a book about how to be gorgeous, but she goes on to explain that this isn't just about having glossy hair, great skin and a wonderful dress (although she does admit that these help)It's about looking amazing, but still being youIt's about having confidence in who you are and having a positive energy about you.  It's about having great friends - and ''being'' a great friend, in fact being the sort of person that everyone wants to knowShe promises that most of what she suggests is not going to break the Bank - somethings are virtually, if not totally, free and it's all easy. So how does it live up to the promises?
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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 placeLooking 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''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407132695</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Jeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene
|author=Harriet Ziefert and Liz Murphy
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|title=Fritz and Kurt
|title=ABC Dentist: Healthy Teeth from A to Z
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=I hope that children are not as fearful of going to the dentist as used regularly to be the case, but even those who are unworried will benefit from this useful book directed mainly at the five to ten age group, although I'm sure that older children will find it of interest tooThe ABC format might suggest a younger age range, but don't be fooled!
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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 JewsThese 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>1609052749</amazonuk>
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|isbn=024156574X
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1913750353
|author=Michael Rosen
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|title=Britannica's Word of the Day
|title=Fantastic Mr Dahl
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|author=Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Reading this book is rather like curling up in a deep, squishy armchair with a cup of cocoa and some squashed-fly biscuits while a favourite uncle chats to you about books. He tells you interesting things about Roald Dahl's life, and then he discusses how those events may have affected his writing, secure in the knowledge that you already know and love the stories. Just as important, he pauses in his chat from time to time to ask your opinion — and it's clear he's really interested in your answer. Do you prefer the original version of ''James and the Giant Peach'', or the one which was eventually published? Can you imagine how funny it would be to see your grandfather looking in through your bedroom window, like the BFG?
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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!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141322136</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0711266204
|author=Sally Kindberg and Tracey Turner
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|title=The Secret Life of Birds
|title=The Comic Strip Book of Dinosaurs
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|author=Moira Butterfield and Vivian Mineker (illustrator)
|rating=3
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=If I asked you all to put your hands up if you had a dinosaur book as a youth I'd feel the draught from here. My grander examples certainly stayed on my shelves for years and survived several readings, and I'm sure that's not unique - plus, over the intervening years science has learnt a lot of extra facts, to make the books more accurateHere then, for the 5-9s, is a primer of prehistory, and one such as the young me never had.
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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 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 knowledgeableIt 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>1408817462</amazonuk>
 
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0192779230
|author=Various
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|title=Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs
|title=Hello Kitty Dictionary
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|author=Isabel Thomas
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The Hello Kitty Dictionary takes a concept that many young students might not find too interesting (me, on the other hand, I love books full of words) and puts a colourful and fun spin on it. Because if you’re having to look up how to spell a word, or what something means, it helps to have pages with lemon and violet and aquamarine borders, dotted with presents and hearts and stars. That’s not to say the dictionary isn’t clear and easy to read because it certainly is: the decorations don’t extend into the centre of the pages, and the entries themselves are bold fuchsia followed by neat black explanations, all neatly formatted on crisp white pages.
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007457197</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1800464495
|author=Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
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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
|title=A Horrid Factbook: Food
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|author=Emma Smith
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=For a horrid child our Henry has acquired a lot of facts, you know and the latest of his Horrid Fact Books is about food.  It follows the usual format of quick-fire facts liberally accompanied by brilliant illustrations from Tony Ross.  The book's divided into chapters which are just the right length to appeal to the emerging reader and to give a regular feel-good buzz when there's another chapter under the belt. With ninety-nine pages of text there's enough to give the sense of having read ''a book'' but without it being too much of a trial.  It ticks all the boxes as an early reader.
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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>1444006339</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Did you know this? I didn't! How about:
|author=Tony Robinson
 
|title=Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders: Romans
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=You could be mistaken for thinking [[:Category:Tony Robinson|Tony Robinson]] had written books like this before, for he was doing 'Horrid History'-style TV programmes before the official ones were made.  This series fits so well into his erudite yet family audience-friendly manner, and this second book takes us in a primary school curriculum-suiting way into the world of Rome.  A lot is in these books, from trivia for all ages (I didn't know, or had forgotten, that all those Julius Caesar reliefs and statues are of him in a wig as he was bald), to the delectable gross-out (the posh man's cuisine) to the foregrounding of the obvious difference between them and us (in a word, slavery).
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330533894</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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''Maths ability on entry to school is a strong predictor of later achievement, double that of literacy skills.''
|author=Tony Robinson
 
|title=Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders: Egyptians
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=You could be mistaken for thinking [[:Category:Tony Robinson|Tony Robinson]] had written books like this before, for he was doing 'Horrid History'-style TV programmes before the official ones were made.  This series fits so well into his erudite yet family audience-friendly manner, and this launching book takes us to the strangest of worlds - yet one only a museum visit away, that of the ancient Egyptians. A lot is in these pages - complete with adult stuff glossed over (just how in-bred '''were''' those Ptolemys?!), the gross-out being relished (making mummies, and some alleged Egyptian medicines) and the obvious differences between them and us foregrounded so we can empathise with them (and at the same time remember it's harder for most of us to sleep on our roofs than they would have found it).
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330533878</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{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=Kathleen King
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}} 
|title=Make and Do: Bake
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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=I love the idea of kids cookingThere's going to be mess, probably a bit of waste and you're going to have to bite your tongue an awful lot, but it really is the most amazing funBest of all, though - from an early age kids learn that they can go into the kitchen and make something which they can eatThey don't need to go to the shops and buy a ready meal or to a takeaway for junk foodThey can make something themselves. It's a life skill.
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|author=Nicola Morgan
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849154384</amazonuk>
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|rating=5
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|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 unnecessarilyMost 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.
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1849767343
|author=Dan Green and Simon Basher
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|title=Count on Me
|title=Basher Science: Oceans
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|author=Miguel Tanco
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=I've often wondered why this planet is called 'earth' when three-quarters of it obviously isn't and it seems that I'm not alone.  Dan Green and Simon Basher have decided to take a close look at the oceans and other bodies of water on the planet and to explain them in simple words, accompanied by Simon Brasher's illustrations which are almost - but not quite - manga.  It's a style which kids are going to be comfortable with - and they're not going to associate it with something boring which they have to learn.  It's fun.
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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 maths.  It's about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in everyday life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0753433443</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1849767009
|author=Richard Brassey
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|title=It Isn't Rude to be Nude
|title=The Queen
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|author=Rosie Haine
|rating=4
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|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Those of us who've been around for longer than the Queen has been on the throne tend to forget that not everyone knows about her history or who-is-who in the familyRichard Brassey has set out to remedy that with this easy-read, almost comic-style book about Her Majesty and there's lots in there in the way of fascinating information, some fun facts and (I'll confess!) a few anecdotes which left me chuckling, sometimes with and sometimes... er, well, I think we'll gloss over that bit, but let me say that this book is not at all sycophantic!
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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 bustBut... 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444001272</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
[[Category:Confident Readers]]
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|isbn=1776572858
{{newreview
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|title=How Do You Make a Baby?
|author=Ellen Emerson White
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|author=Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)
|title=Titanic: An Edwardian Girl's Diary 1912
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|rating=5
|rating=4
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|genre=Home and Family
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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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 itA 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.
|summary=Margaret Anne Brady had been at the orphanage for several years when one of the Sisters told her that she'd been asked to accompany a lady who was crossing the AtlanticThis was a dream come true for Margaret as he only relative - her brother William - lived in Boston and he'd been trying to save up her fare so that she could join him in the USA. Mrs Carstairs is wealthy and she and Margaret will be travelling First Class - on the maiden voyage of RMS ''Titanic''.  All Margaret's dreams seemed to be coming true at once.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407131419</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1526362759
|author=Christopher Edge
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|title=Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It
|title=How to Make Money: Smart Ways to Make Millions
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|author=Rashmi Sirdeshpande
|rating=4
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Most kids seem to feel that they could do with more money and short of the parentals coughing up the dosh they have to find some way of earning it for themselvesChristopher Edge has some ideas which might appeal in ''How to Make Money'', with its particularly eye-catching sub-title ''Smart Ways to make MILLIONS''.  Now I rather thought (hoped) that the last bit might be hyperbole, fearing that the country might be over-run by a flood of teenage millionaires, but read on...
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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 extentYou 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 buyThere's also the possibility of using to do good in the world.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407129651</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=178112938X
|author=Karen Blumenthal
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|title=Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission
|title=Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different
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|author=David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
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|genre=Dyslexia Friendly
|summary=Framed by Jobs' iconic speech at a Stanford College graduation ceremony, and the three stories he told the students, about connecting the dots, love and loss, and mortality, this biography gives a succinct and balanced account of Jobs' life, his successes and his failures, his passions and his ideals, and his infamously polarized personality. The author actively annotates the backstory of Jobs with references from this speech, as well as future events, carefully chosen statistics, and Jobs' own reminiscence, giving a rich context to his story. Jobs' achievements are incredible and they're not simply down to his genius, but his attitudes towards life and his incredible charisma.  
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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>1408832062</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Kathleen Boucher and Sara Chadwick
 +
|title=Nine Ways to Empower Tweens
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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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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Emily Hawkins
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|isbn=1609809173
|title=Illusionology
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|title=Eiffel's Tower for Young People
|rating=4
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|author=Jill Jonnes
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|rating=5
|summary=If there was a prize for the most lavish book received here at Bookbag Towers for review, this would definitely be on the shortlist.  A lovely large format hardback, the cover is a delight itself - with a 3D lenticular image, embossed bits, a plastic gem stuck in it...  And inside there are packets of goodies to open and explore, making this more of a literary toy than a book.  The book aims to introduce the cleverer child to the wonders of stagecraft and magic, and so here are props for some tricks for you to do, some instructions for other illusions of your own, and a historical guide to how the masters of their trade did it.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848772084</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Patricia McKissack, Frederick L McKissack Jr and Randy DuBurke
 
|title=Best Shot in the West
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary='We're going to do the real West, Nat. You're as real as the rest of 'em - Bat Masterson, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill, the Earps.'  So says a publisher to a lowly railroad porter, Nat.  But if this guy's as real as the rest of those famous names, why does his not trip off the tongue?  Is it purely because as the most famous African-American cowboy, he still was not allowed to be as famous as he should?
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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>0811857492</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1848576536
|author=Francesca Simon and Tony Ross
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|title=Humanatomy: How the Body Works
|title=A Horrid Factbook: Horrid Henry's Sports
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|author=Nicola Edwards and Jem Maybank
|rating=4
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Horrid Henry is back with another book of freaky facts and random trivia.  We loved his book about [[A Horrid Factbook: Horrid Henry's Bodies by Francesca Simon and Tony Ross|Bodies]] and this time the lovable lad (well, I'm sure that's what his mother said...) is back with a book about sport.  And in the year of the London Olympic Games, what could be more suitable? It's not just a crammer for [[How to Watch the Olympics: Scores and laws, heroes and zeros – an instant initiation to every sport by David Goldblatt and Johnny Acton|every sport in the Games]] or [[The Story of the Olympics by Richard Brassey|the background to the Games]] themselves.  This is the book which swoops into the World Cow Poo Throwing Contest and delves into the Bog Snorkling Championships.
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|summary=''Get under your own skin, pick your brains, and go inside your insides!''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444001647</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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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.
|author=Sam Hay
 
|title=Archie the Guide Dog Puppy: Hero in Training
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=I don't often pick up a non-fiction book for the 7+ age group, find it riveting reading and informative about a subject with which I'm already familiar, but that was the case with ''Archie: Hero in Training''.  Archie is a puppy destined to be a guide dog for a blind person and he's just one story in a book about the pups-in-training, the working dogs, the adults who have guide dogs, or struggle to learn the techniques - or even what happens to the dogs who don't turn out to be what's needed. There's a full range as well as information about what a guide dog costs - and it's not cheap!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>033053792X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=Langford_Emily
|author=Steve Backshall
+
|title=Emily's Numbers
|title=Predators
+
|author=Joss Langford
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Many readers would probably know that on the simple count of humans they helped to dispatch, mosquitoes may be the most deadly animals ever. But did you know that if you take into account the success rate of hunts, diversity and spread, ladybirds are more successful predators than tigers?
+
|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 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>1444004174</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=Buckingham_Dawn
|author=Ewa Solarz, Aleksandra Mizielinski and Daniel Mizielinski
+
|title=The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus
|title=Design
+
|author=Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
+
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|summary=
+
|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 aroundSo, what do you get?
Although this is a book for children I can imagine plenty of grown ups who would find it fascinating!  It's a wonderful dip in and out book and I actually found myself keeping it in our washing basket in the bathroom so I could have a quick read whenever I needed to spend a penny!  It depicts 69 objects from all over the world that were designed in the last 150 yearsThere's everything here from octopus-inspired lemon juicers through to sofas made to look like a pair of lips or an Ottoman that resembles a shapely lady's bottom!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1877467839</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=Pankhurst_Women
|author=Lois Rock and Steve Noon
+
|title=Fantastically Great Women Who Made History
|title=The Lion Bible in its Time
+
|author=Kate Pankhurst
|rating=4
+
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=
+
|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.
This factual book approaches stories from the bible in a historical way, looking at the lives people would have been living at the time, the sort of homes they had and the reigning monarchs of each era. Working through from the old testament to the new testament it covers a wide range of biblical stories and is illustrated throughout with fascinating, detailed pictures.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0745960154</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=Ignotofsky_Sport
|author=Chris Barnardo
+
|title=Women in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win
|title=Dragonolia
+
|author=Rachel Ignotofsky
|rating=4
+
|rating=5
|genre=children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=
 
This book is, first of all, a rather beautiful book to behold.  The red cloth hardback cover with the curled-up golden dragon on the front immediately make you want to pick it up and look inside!  It's also a rather unusual book, being a mix of both fiction and non-fiction, so when you begin it you're initially not quite sure what you're looking at.  As you read on you discover that there's a story running throughout by Sir Richard Barons, a famous dragon hunter, and with each story he tells there is also a craft project of something related to make!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904967248</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Philip Ardagh
 
|title=Philip Ardagh's Book of Kings, Queens, Emperors and Rotten Wart-Nosed Commoners
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=If you deem a good children's historical trivia book to be one that tells you, the adult, something they didn't know about historical trivia, then this is a good example.  I didn't know George V broke his pelvis when his horse fell on him, startled by some post-WWI huzzahs.  I didn't know Charles VI of France nearly got torched in some drunken bacchanal. The length of time Charlemagne sat on a throne (over 400 whole years (even if he wasn't wholly whole all that time)) was news to me, as was the raffle that was held (more or less) for being the unknown soldier. Therefore this is a good book for children and the adults willing to instill some historical trivia into them.
+
|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>0330471732</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=Rooney_Dino
|author=Robert Leroy Ripley
+
|title=Discovering Dinosaurs
|title=Ripley's Believe It or Not! 2012
+
|author=Anne Rooney and Suzanne Carpenter
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Here at Bookbag we don't usually cover annuals. In our experience people either know they want them or don't bother with them and once the year is out there's not a lot of interest in them, particularly if they're based on a character which might well have gone out of fashion.  Ripley's ''Believe It Or Not!'' is different.  The series is about interesting facts – all of which are true - which are going to surprise the readers and will continue to surprise them years down the line.  Just to test this out we had a look back at the [[Ripley's Believe It or Not 2010 by Robert Leroy Ripley|2010 edition]] and it's still as shocking, gruesome and downright compulsive as it was when we first saw it.
+
|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>1847946704</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=Mason_poo
|author=Stephen Law
+
|title=The Poo That Animals Do
|title=The Complete Philosophy Files
+
|author=Paul Mason and Tony de Saulles
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=''The Philosophy Files'' and ''The Philosophy Files 2'' were first published in 2000 and 2003 respectively. Now we have them combined and reissued with illustrations by the wonderful Daniel Postgate.
+
|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>1444003348</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest Children's Rhymes and Verse Reviews]]
|author=Geraldine McCaughrean and Richard Brassey
 
|title=Great Stories from British History
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=''Since when was History True?'' is the heading of the first chapter and it's one which you need to read ''before'' you buy this beautiful book, because it would be easy to assume from the title and the pictures on the cover that it's a history ''text'' book you're going to invest in.  In ''some'' ways you are but what you are actually acquiring is a ''story'' book.  This is a book of the great stories of British history.  Some of them are (broadly) true, some have been debunked by historians and some have simply fallen into disuse – but Geraldine McCaughrean would hate to see them lost altogether.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444001426</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Betty G Birney
 
|title=Humphrey's World of Pets
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=
 
The verb to pet means to cosset, pay loving attention to, to have loving, touching time with.  It might as well mean to have in your household while spending a lot of money on, and being duty-bound and beholden to.  Fish (which you can't even properly pet, of course) need a permanent power supply for their water's thermometer.  Chinchillas need a special sand for their bathing in.  There's even pet-friendly detergents for washing out your hamster cages.  Wherever you look there's time and money expenditure in owning a pet.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571270263</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

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

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