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Newest Children's Non-Fiction Reviews (view source)
Revision as of 13:29, 9 September 2023
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[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Children's Non-Fiction]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove --> {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Richard Scarry1839948493|title=Paul Smith for Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks A World of Dogs|author=Carlie Sorosiak and Things That Go Luisa Uribe|rating=45
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The pig family are heading out for a picnic and – goodness – they are going to have some ride! This is In the loose story line interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that functions as I'm a vehicle (pun intended) to introduce a mind boggling array of ‘things that go’sucker for dogs. In and around Ma and Pa Pig’s house there are no less than seven motors. That’s a quiet page in Richard Scarry’s nearly eight decades, I've never met one I didn'Cars t trust and Trucks and Things That GoI'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. Prepare Then I'm going to be dazzled along the journey by more vehicles than you ever thought existed all illustrated go back and labelledread it properly. This is an American book And so some it was with ''A World of the carsDogs'', trucks and fire engines may look a little unfamiliarwith ninety-six pages devoted entirely to my four-legged friends. However, I’m pretty sure though that I never saw Author Carlie Sorosiak found herself the accidental owner of an American Dingo - she's learned quite a shark car, wolf wagon or pickle truck on either the M5 or the I5lot about dogs since then.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007581068</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dylan Thomas and Peter Bailey1529507987|title=A Child’s Christmas in WalesThe Repair Shop Craft Book|author=Walker Books and Sonia Albert (Illustrator)
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Christmas time growing I love ''The Repair Shop''. It's my go-to programme when I want to be cheered up in . After a Welsh seaside town was magical for Dylan Thomashard day, always snowy 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 full of adventurethe memories they hold. From attempting No expense appears to extinguish house fires with snowballs be spared and the experts spend as much time and effort as is required to hippo footprints in achieve the snow his childhood in desired result. Regular viewers know the snow was a time of wonder experts and pure joythey're all brilliant at explaining what it is they're doing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444013467</amazonuk> But how did they start?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Walter Dean Myers024162343X|title=An African Princess: From African Orphan to Queen Victoria’s FavouriteStolen History|author=Sathnam Sanghera|rating=3.5|genre=Historical Children's Non-Fiction|summary=This elegant edition of An African Princess tells of I was the life of Sarah Bonetta who is suddenly swept from bad company other people got into at school. I was disruptive in religious education classes because I disputed the threat existence of a savage execution in 1848 only to face a brave new world under the patronage of the imperious Queen Victoria'god'. Meticulously researched by Where was the twice elected US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Walter Dean Myersproof? In history lessons, it is a creatively imaginative account, with an historical backbone was probably worse still. Not too long after the end of genuine diary entriesWWII, lettersI didn't so much want to learn about the British army's successes (and occasional failures, autobiographical workbut 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, contemporary newspapers, social and anthropological studies and period photographsI 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>1406354449</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Trudi EsbergerJeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene|title=The Boy Who Lost His BumbleFritz and Kurt|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingConfident Readers|summary=A little boy loves his garden We start with the pair of brothers Fritz and Kurt, and he particularly loves their muckers, doing things any Jewish lad in 1930s Vienna would want to do – kicking things around the empty market place, helping the bees that visit 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 day. He is so fascinated by his buzzy friends that he gives Friday night – the Sabbath preventing them each names and records their habits for using anything nearly as mechanical and characteristicsworkmanlike as a light switch. Then But this is the weather changestime just before the Austrian leader is going to cave to Hitler's will, it grows cold and his bees disappearinstead 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. Where can they be? Will they come back? The boy is puzzled and saddened by These in their departure turn leave the younger Kurt at home with his mother and tries hard sisters anxious to hear word of an evacuation to encourage Britain or the US, while Fritz and his missing friends father are, unknown initially to returneach 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…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846436613</amazonuk>024156574X
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Steve Backshall1913750353|title=Deadly Pole to Pole DiariesBritannica's Word of the Day|author=Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Dear Diary, today I really woke up on the wrong side ''Britannica's Word of the bedDay'' 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. For most people that means waking up in a grumpy mood It starts on January 1st with ''Razzmatazz'', but for me tells you how to pronounce it literally means the wrong side of the bed. I stepped straight into (''raz-muh-TAZ''), gives you a pool full of viscous fish definition and then I climbed out, only to includes the word in a sentence so that you know how it should be chased by a bearused. You also get an engaging and frequently amusing illustration too. I am either eating too much cheese before don't think I go to bed or partaking on 've ever encountered a magnificent journey from Pole to Pole visiting dangerous animals on word which uses the way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444013769</amazonuk>letter Z four times before!
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0711266204|title=Excavate! Dinosaurs: Paper Toy PaleontologyThe Secret Life of Birds|author=Jonathan Tennant, Vladamir Nikolov Moira Butterfield and Charlie SimpsonVivian Mineker (illustrator)
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=I believe that it is now an established worldwide fact that dinosaurs are awesome. have recently discovered a great pleasure: I have checked sit and watch the latest edition vast numbers of Nature and it would appear that this is definitely the casebirds which visit our garden on a daily basis. Dinosaurs are An hour can pass without doubt the coolest creatures to have roamed the Earthmy noticing. Do you know what makes them really great? The fact that that left fabulous fossils and brilliant bones behind. Any kid would love the chance to dig up some old bones and build their own dinosaur.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1612125204</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Rattle and Rap|author=Susan Steggall|rating=4.5|genre=ChildrenI's Non-Fiction|summary=Apparently, back in ve established which species feed from the days of steamground, every little boy used which pop to dream the feeders for a quick snatch of being an engine driver. The trains in ''Rattle some food and Rap'' are all diesel but the allure of travel still wafts strongly from the pages. This is one who settles in for a series of vehicle-themed books aimed at pre-schoolersgood munch but I wish I was more knowledgeable. It’s unusual to find engaging non-fiction for the under fives. With the focus on vehiclesIt would have been wonderful if, Susan Stegall takes as a staple of many child, I'd had access to a children’s book but, unlike some other authors, she treats the subject with imagination and creativitysuch as ''The Secret Life of Birds''. It’s enough to make an anthropomorphised tank engine blush.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847805833</amazonuk> So – what is it?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0192779230|title=Inventions in 30 SecondsVery Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs|author=Dr Mike GoldsmithIsabel Thomas
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=As reference books go'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, this is one 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 best I’ve seen in a long thinking has developed over time. Covering topics such as space, planet earth, The vocabulary can be confusing but Thomas gives a regular box headed 'speak like a scientist' which explains some of the animal kingdom trickiest concepts and the human bodyyou'll soon be familiar with bacteria, this colourful book is a powerful tool for homework help from juniors through to early senior schoolfungi, beautifully presented protists and viruses – and easy to draw information fromhow we should protect ourselves.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0750281219</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1800464495|title=Dead or Alive?100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths: Support All Areas of Your Baby’s Development by Nurturing a Love of Maths|author=Clive Gifford and Sarah HorneEmma Smith
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Animals do ''Babies seem to be born with an amazing number sense: understanding shapes in the most amazing thingswomb, but dying is not one being aware of them. In factquantities at seven hours old, assessing probability at six months old, animals dislike dying so much that over the millennia they have evolved many ingenious ways of not being dead – or as scientists like to call this not dead state; aliveand comprehending addition and subtraction at nine months old. What better way to avoid death than to act dead or smell so bad that no one would possibly want to eat you?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405268581</amazonuk>}}''
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.}} {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1406395404|title=Two Player Big Fun BookThe Awesome Power of Sleep: How Sleep Super-Charges Your Teenage Brain|author=Lydia CrookNicola Morgan
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|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 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.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1849767343
|title=Count on Me
|author=Miguel Tanco
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=My house is full The title and format of technology designed to inspire and entertain: computers, iPads, games consoles, mobile devices...yet despite this, the kids seem book might lead you to constantly complain think that they are bored. Maybe the problem is that we are so used to it's either about responsibility - or it'being entertaineds a basic 1-2-3 book for those just starting out on the numbers journey. It isn't: it', that perhaps we have forgotten how s a hymn of praise to entertain ourselvesmaths. Lydia Crook, paper engineer, aims to change all of that by bringing out our creative It's about why maths is so wonderful and playful side how you meet it in the excellent (and completely absorbing) ''Two Player Big Fun Book''everyday life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401423</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1849767009|title=The Human Body in 30 SecondsIt Isn't Rude to be Nude|author=Anna ClaybourneRosie Haine
|rating=5
|genre=Popular ScienceFor Sharing|summary=Our body is an amazing machine, capable This could have been one of performing a myriad of tasks simultaneously. Even when we those books which 'preaches to the choir': the only people who'll buy it are sleeping, our body the people who know that nudity is busy processing information, pumping blood, regulating temperature OK and the ones who ''know'' that it's shameful will avoid it like they avoid the hot-and filtering waste-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. When we are hurt, It's a host celebration of repair systems jump into operation to sort out the damagebodies: bodies large and small and of every possible hue. Bodies with disabilities and markings. They're fine. When we are invaded by a foreign body In fact, our immune system works to repel the invaders. We are constantly making new discoveries about the they're wonderful way that our body works.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401474</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1776572858|title=Big Fat Christmas Book (Horrible Histories)How Do You Make a Baby?|author=Terry Deary Anna Fiske and Martin BrownDon Bartlett (translator)|rating=35|genre=Confident ReadersHome and Family|summary=It's more than sixty years since I asked how babies were made. My mother was reading Terry Deary before he even started writing the ‘Horrible History’ franchisedeeply embarrassed and told me that she'd get me a book about it. It seems that as A couple of days later I grew out of children’s non-fiction just as he exploded was handed a pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the basics, in popularity, selling millions of books clinical language which had never been used in the series our house before) and even spawning a successful TV show (I was told that I admit to watching)it wouldn't be discussed any further as it ''wasn't something which nice people talked about''. It has been years since the first Horrible History bookI ''knew'' more, but they are still popular enough to produce an annual of sortswas little ''wiser''. Thankfully, but is this a case of annual horribilis?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407147749</amazonuk>times have changed.
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1526362759|title=The Paint BookDosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It|author=Miri FlowerRashmi Sirdeshpande
|rating=5
|genre=CraftsChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=Craft blogger Miri Flower challenges bored What a relief! A book about money, for children everywhere , with her lovely new series clear explanations of art bookswhat it is, which utilise basic materials that 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 found in most homes. something you really, ''The Paint Bookreally'' outlines seventy simple projects which encourage kids want to get crafty and creative with paintsbuy. It There's going also the possibility of using to get messy, so house-proud parents turn away nowdo good in the world...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071123583X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=178112938X|title=Survival in Space: The Pencil BookApollo 13 Mission|author=Miri FlowerDavid Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)
|rating=5
|genre=CraftsDyslexia Friendly|summary=Summer is almost over. Gone are It's fifty years since the Apollo 13 mission was launched from the carefree days playing outdoors Kennedy Space Centre in the sunshine with friends. Here come the rainy days and dark eveningsFlorida, heralding but the inevitable cry story of that journey remains one of: ''I'm bored!''. Author and craft-blogger Miri Flower (fantastic name!) comes to the rescue of harassed parents everywhere with her new series greatest survival stories of art books which encourage children to utilise simple materials to create fun games and artworkall time. ''Survival in Space: The Pencil BookApollo 13 Mission'' sees the humble pencil takes centre stage, with seventy projects to keep kids engaged and amusedis a brilliant retelling of what happened.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0711235848</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Kathleen Boucher and Sara Chadwick
|title=Nine Ways to Empower Tweens
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|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.
|isbn= 0228818826
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1609809173|title=Mad About Mega Beasts!Eiffel's Tower for Young People|author=Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz (Illustrator)Jill Jonnes
|rating=5
|genre=For SharingChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=When I was small I was fascinated with things that were big; big buildingsBrash and elegant, big vehiclessophisticated, big animals. Howevercontroversial and vibrant, I have recently learnt that there is a size that is bigger than big – mega. What beaststhe 1889 World's Fair in Paris encompassed the best, both the worst and the beautiful from now 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 pastsenses. And towering above it all, are large enough the most popular and the most hated monument to achieve this accolade French accomplishment and be welcomed into daring – the hallowed pages of this book?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408329352</amazonuk>Eiffel Tower.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1848576536|title=BookHumanatomy: How the Body Works|author=John Agard Nicola Edwards and Neil Packer (illustrator)Jem Maybank|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Meet Book. I'm sure you have many times over, for otherwise you wouldn't be here. We've met well over 10Get under your own skin,000 of them on this website over the past few years of our young life. I myself have personally reviewed over 1pick your brains,000 of them in that time (gulp). Some have been completely enjoyable and spending time with them is like being entertained by a best friend; others have been the equivalent of meeting someone you wouldngo inside your insides!'t spit on if they were on fire. But even though Book has talked to me in many different ways in that time, he was yet to tell me exclusively of himself. This then is Book as historian, as entertainer and again as friend, as Book gives a summary of his own birth, history and current state of play. And I'm sure you agree he has a lot to be proud of.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0744544785</amazonuk>}}
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Langford_Emily|title=Charles Dickens: Scenes from an Extraordinary LifeEmily's Numbers|author=Mick Manning and Brita GranstromJoss Langford
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Emily found words ''Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life these pages must show…useful'' Such Dickens wrote – although of course he never wrote that about himself, but counting was what she loved best. He did write a lot – lettersObviously, short stories, travel journalsyou can count anything and there's no limit to how far you can go, and of course a firm dozen classic novels – but never then Emily moved a strict autobiographystep further and began counting in twos. This book for She knew all about odd and even numbers. Then she began counting in threes: half of the primary school age reader gets round that by cribbing bits from here list were even numbers, but the other half was odd and thereit was this list of odd numbers which occurred when you counted in threes which she called ''threeven''. (Actually, and by using this confused me a little bit at first as they're a good graphic eye, subset of the odd numbers but sound as though they ought to tell be a subset of the stories of not only his lifeeven numbers, but many of the works tooit all worked out well when I really thought about it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847805000</amazonuk>)
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Buckingham_Dawn|title=Explore and Draw Patterns: An Art Activity The Little Bookof the Dawn Chorus|author=Owen Davey Caz Buckingham and Georgia Amson-BradshawAndrea Pinnington|rating=4.5|genre=CraftsAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Explore and Draw Patterns is What a beautifully presented interactive workbook designed treat! I really did mean to spark creativity and imagination. just ''glance'' at ''The appeal Little Book of the subject matter is universal; everyone loves Dawn Chorus'' but the pull of the sounds of a dozen different birds singing their hearts out was far too much to doodle, resist on a cold and rather wet February morning. I spent an indulgent hour or so reading all about the book would be equally enjoyable for adults or childrenbirds 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401407</amazonuk> So, what do you get?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Pankhurst_Women|title=Top 10 of Everything 2015Fantastically Great Women Who Made History|author=Paul TerryKate Pankhurst|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The Top 10 A lot of Everything 2015 history isabout men. Kings and generals and inventors and politicians. Sometimes, it feels almost as the title impliesthough 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, a compilation of this isn'top ten' lists covering a wide variety t true and there are plenty of topics including the natural worldwomen who, throughout history, pop culturehave achieved amazing things or shown incredible bravery, sport and technologyor created something never seen before. The style of So here, in this wonderful picture book from Kate Pankhurst, are the book will appeal to its target audience stories of pre-teens with its use some of bright colours, vibrant images, fun facts, puzzles and quizzesthem.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0600628868</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Ignotofsky_Sport|title=The Life of a CarWomen in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win|author=Susan SteggallRachel Ignotofsky|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=As the daughter of a car worker and the mother of a little boy who is fascinated by wheels, ''The Life of a CarWomen in Sport'' stood out on is coming to us just before the shelfWinter Olympics in South Korea in February 2018. Part It celebrates a century and a half of the development of women''Busy Wheels'' seriess 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 non fiction picture book illustrates the life cycle of somewhere. Each entry is a car from manufacture to scrapping double-page spread with the help of just the odd word or two or threea brief biography and a striking portrait.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847804217</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Rooney_Dino|title=S is for South AfricaDiscovering Dinosaurs|author=Beverley Naidoo Anne Rooney and Prodeepta DasSuzanne Carpenter|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Beverley Naidoo is best known for her award winning fiction for older readers but in this title in Lift the World Alphabet series she brings her native country of South Africa to life for younger childrenflap books have progressed somewhat since I was a child. Starting This one comes with A for the Apartheid Museum and finishing with Zoo Lake in Jo’burg she covers many sounds! Taking us layer by layer, through various different aspects ages of dinosaurs, we meet a variety of creatures, some of whom are very familiar but some I'd never heard of life including traditionsbefore! Each scene peels open, foodlayer by layer, landscapeshowing you what the various dinosaurs are getting up to, animalswith background noises, music roars and family life and each subject is accompanied by one of Prodeepta Das’s stunning photos. squawks to accompany them! The poetic text flows book creates a dinosaur experience, rather than just being facts about dinosaurs it's very visual, placing the dinosaurs in their habitats and this would work well read aloudgiving us sounds too that spike your imagination.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847805027</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Mason_poo|title=Rubik's Quest: Mission InventThe Poo That Animals Do|author=John FarndonPaul Mason and Tony de Saulles|rating=35
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The Rubik Cube is not only a great toyI know, I know, sometimes you really don't want to encourage your children's poo jokes, but also a great brand. Why should Lego have all this book is brilliant! I sat and read it by myself when the funkids had gone to school and found it fascinating! Who knew there was so much I didn't know about poo? To wit Rubik have recently branched out into creating variations The book manages to be both funny (and silly) as well as being very interesting and educational. Using a mixture of their famous puzzlefacts and figures, photographs and funny cartoons, you come away having sniggered a little at the vulture who poos on its own feet but also into other formats including books. ''Rubik's Quest: Mission Invent'' by John Farndon is one of knowing a new series lot about different types of fun puzzle books designed for kids that combine a story with improving your knowledge; in this casepoo, in science. Can science be fun? The answer is yeswhy poos smell, but perhaps ''Mission Invent'' is not the best example of thisand why wombats do square poos.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781715580</amazonuk>
}}