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Newest Children's Non-Fiction Reviews (view source)
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=B0GHPMNF6P|title= Rob Beattie How the Sky and Sam Peetthe Earth Made People: From the Oral Stories of Malagasy Elders|titleauthor= Stupendous ScienceStephanie Zabriskie|rating= 4.5|genre= Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=Education should be fun. We learn best when we are engaged with practicalBefore people came and joined the animals, enjoyable tasksthere was only the sky and the earth. That's Everything was quiet until the secret behind earth and the experiments in ''Stupendous Sciencesky began to tal to each other.'' They have First, the fun elementearth created bodies. And then, the 'wow factorsky breathed life into them. These were the first humans and they belonged to both earth and sky. And so people lived between sky and soil and they planted and learned and remembered,' especially how they came to be. When they grew old and most importantlydied, can be easily replicated with items their bodies returned to the earth and their life returned to the sky. And that is why the earth and the sky are readily available in the homeboth revered. Each experiment teaches an important scientific concept; essentially teaching through playOnly together can they create human beings. And that is why people must pay attention to, and care for, both.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784938467</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Gianni Sarcone and Marie Jo WaeberStephanie Zabriskie|title= Optical IllusionsHow Maasai Women Spoke to Cows: From the Oral Stories of Maasai Elders|rating= 5|genre= Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=I used ''How Maasai Women Spoke to work as Cows is a library assistant and I remember arriving to work one morning to find all children’s nonfiction book drawn from the oral traditions of my fellow librarians crowded around a bookMaasai elders in Ngorongoro, chattering excitedly and...squinting rather oddlyTanzania. The book was called ''Magic Eye'' The Maasai are a cattle-herding people and promised a magical 3D viewing experience if you looked at the psychadelic pictures in a certain waythis story writes down its oral tradition explaining how they came to be so. For a brief period Cattle are status and wealth in Maasai culture but this doesn't tell the early 90s, whole story of the pictures had a sudden spike in popularityintimate and symbiotic connection its people, until everyone presumably got eye strain and went back to especially its women, have with their everyday livescows and for the natural world. Well good news Magic Eye fans! The pictures are back (albeit only two images)oral tradition retelling the many conversations Maasai women have had with their cows, in the engrossing and immersive new book ''Optical Illusionsdoes.''|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1784938475</amazonuk>B0G9WTGY6J
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joey Chou1839948493|title=Make A World of Dogs|author=Carlie Sorosiak and Play: NativityLuisa Uribe
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=In the interests of full disclosure, I always feel must tell you that I'm a slight disappointment sucker for children at Christmas when theydogs. In nearly eight decades, I've never met one I didn're presented with a tree to decorate with a box of ornaments t trust and a nativity scene (sometimes quite precious, so itI's Not To Be Played With) which is set up Somewhere Safeve loved most of them. Where's I wish I felt the imaginationsame about human beings. So, the creativityany book about dogs, the sense of pride in that? I'm going to sit down and devour. How much better Then I'm going to have a child create their own nativity scene, which they can then play with? go back and read it properly. That's exactly what they get And so it was with Joey Chou's 'A World of Dogs'Make and Play Nativity', 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1788000064</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Philip Parker1529507987|title=50 Things You Should Know About the VikingsThe Repair Shop Craft Book|author=Walker Books and Sonia Albert (Illustrator)
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction |summary=I love ''The Vikings have got Repair Shop''. It's my go-to programme when I want to be cheered up. After a lot 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 up tothem and the memories they hold. A huge DNA study in 2014 was No expense appears to be spared and the first thing that proved experts spend as much time and effort as is required to achieve the desired result. Regular viewers know the Orkney residents that experts and they're all brilliant at explaining what it is they had Viking blood in their veins – 're doing. But how did they had been insisting it start?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=024162343X|title=Stolen History|author=Sathnam Sanghera|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=I was the bad company other people got into at school. I was that disruptive in religious education classes because I disputed the existence of a 'god'. Where was the Irish. proof? The Vikings In history lessons, it was that forced our English kingprobably worse still. Not too long after the end of WWII, I didn't so much want to learn about the British army's army to march from London to Yorkshire to kill off one invasionsuccesses (and occasional failures, only but we didn't dwell on those) in what came to spend be called 'the next fortnight schlepping back to Hastings colonies' as want to try and fend off another – and dispute what right the Normans army had the same Norse origin as to be there in the first lotplace. Looking back, hence I still believe I was right - but I regret that I lacked the name. There is a Thames Valley village just outside Henley – ie pretty damned far from maturity to approach 'the coast – that has a Viking longship on its signpostproblem' politely. 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 pagesI wish I'd had Sathnam Sanghera's ''Stolen History''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784937908</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Emily Hawkins Jeremy Dronfield and Lucy LetherlandDavid Ziggy Greene|title=Atlas of Dinosaur Adventures: Step Into a Prehistoric WorldFritz and Kurt
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|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…
|isbn=024156574X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1913750353
|title=Britannica's Word of the Day
|author=Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|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
|isbn=0711266204
|title=The Secret Life of Birds
|author=Moira Butterfield and Vivian Mineker (illustrator)
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=You might think, what with books about dinosaurs being just as varied (I have recently discovered a great pleasure: I sit and almost as old) as dinosaurs themselves, that there was little to say about them that hadn't been said, and few new ways watch the vast numbers of giving us information about thembirds which visit our garden on a daily basis. WellAn hour can pass without my noticing. I've established which species feed from the ground, I would put it which pop to you that this is the feeders for a quick snatch of some food and who settles in for a novel variantgood munch but I wish I was more knowledgeable. Over many jumbo spreadsIt would have been wonderful if, we get a different dinosaur in as a different situation each timechild, whether it be being born, being slain or learning I'd had access to fly, and the a book gives us all the usual facts, not in chronological order, nor in some other more spurious fashion, but grouped by where these dinosaurs livedsuch as ''The Secret Life of Birds''. The continent-wide chapters have several entrants in each, and So – what with the book hitting all corners of our current globe, is it brings the world of dinosaur remains right to our door, and makes this old subject feel remarkably new…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786030349</amazonuk>?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0192779230|title=Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs|author=David Long Isabel Thomas|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|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 Harry BloomIsabel 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.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1800464495|title=Pirates Magnified100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths: With Support All Areas of Your Baby’s Development by Nurturing a 3x Magnifying GlassLove of Maths|author=Emma Smith
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=It's becoming easier '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 easier subtraction at nine months old.'' Did you know this? I didn't! How about: ''Maths ability on entry to spot books for 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 young same way about pirates – 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 surely is giving our children a similar pre-school grounding will be just as beneficial.}} {{Frontpage|isbn=1406395404|title=The Awesome Power of Sleep: How Sleep Super-Charges Your Teenage Brain|author=Nicola 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 career from likely to make it worse. And there's also the seventeenth century fact that gets so many volumes produced 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=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 must 's about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in everyday life.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1849767009|title=It Isn't Rude to be a combination Nude|author=Rosie Haine|rating=5|genre=For Sharing|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 derringhot-and-do, bothered person in the illegality, 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 course the fancy dress every possible hue. Bodies with disabilities and silly speak that appeals – nowhere else would you see markings. They're fine. In fact, they're wonderful.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1776572858|title=How Do You Make a youngster studying one countryBaby?|author=Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)|rating=5|genre=Home and Family|summary=It's attacks on anothermore 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 reading I was told that it wouldn't be discussed any further as it ''wasn't something which nice people talked about how treasures''. I ''knew'' more, but was little ''wiser''. Thankfully, slaves and other resources times have changed hands. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1526362759|title=Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It|author=Rashmi Sirdeshpande|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=What a relief! This volumeA book about money, for children, with clear explanations of what it is, howeverwhy it matters, tries its best how to stand acquire more of it (nope - robbing banks is out, ) and has adopted the equally prevalent concept what you can do with it when you've managed to get hold of getting the reader to pore over large dioramas it. Your reasons for wanting money don't matter: we all need it to seek the small detail hidden in the imagessome extent. For onceYou might want to go into business, thoughbe a clever shopper, a saver (you might even become an ''investor'') and theremight be something you really, ''really'' want to buy. There's a thoroughly educative reasoning behind italso the possibility of using to do good in the world.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786030276</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Caroline Alliston178112938X|title= Build It! 25 Creative STEM Projects for Budding EngineersSurvival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission|author=David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)|rating= 45|genre= Popular ScienceDyslexia Friendly|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 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 complexity to demonstrate topics such as air travel, programmable machines, light, motion and electricityall time. ''Survival in Space: The book is designed with the younger scientist in mind, so there Apollo 13 Mission'' is a focus on the fun aspect, with many brilliant retelling of the projects involving toyswhat happened.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784938483</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Laura Knowles Kathleen Boucher and Chris MaddenSara Chadwick|title=We Travel So FarNine 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
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1609809173
|title=Eiffel's Tower for Young People
|author=Jill Jonnes
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The lead singer of Foreigner said ''I've travelled so far to change this lonely life.'' WellBrash and elegant, sophisticated, controversial and vibrant, hethe 1889 World's gone nowhere Fair in comparison to Paris encompassed the best, the worst and the beautiful from many of these creatures, who probably wouldn't call countries and cultures. The French Republic laid out model villages from all their life lonelycolonies, either. Masses of animals gatherput on art shows, herd, schooldance performances, food festivals and fly in unison, and all make their migration concerts to change their livesstun the senses. Some hide from the danger of winter stormsAnd towering above it all, many seek the food they need before hibernation or their first meals after breeding, some just trot up a volcano to lay eggs in most popular and the one place they know will keep them warm. It might seem most hated monument to be an unusual approach French accomplishment and daring – having a sparsely-texted book solely about one aspect of animal nature, but on this evidence it's an approach that certainly worksthe Eiffel Tower.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910277339</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=DK1848576536|title=13½ Incredible Things You Need to Know About EverythingHumanatomy: How the Body Works|author=Nicola Edwards and Jem Maybank|rating=3.5
|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'Get under your own skin, 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. Nopick your brains, and go inside your insides!'' That's what ''Humanatomy'' invites you need someone authoritative enough to come along do and collate the important bitshonestly, letting you learn just enough, and the key things I don't see how you do need to know, all from one placecould resist. This informative book doesn't really term itself as an encyclopaedia, that has provides a wonderful primer about the human body to be said, but its large format puts it on curious children- from the shelf next skeletal system to themthe muscular system via circulation, respiration and its colourful and educative mien proves it's a very close relativedigestion, at least of the modern kind. What it has decided to do is right up 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 amassedDNA that makes who we are.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241238935</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=DKLangford_Emily|title=My Encyclopedia of Very Important AnimalsEmily's Numbers|author=Joss Langford|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The animal kingdom is a diverse oneEmily found words ''useful'', full of creatures that do all sorts of thingsbut counting was what she loved best. The number of animals out Obviously, you can count anything and there is so vast that even vets need 's no limit to do how far you can go, but then Emily moved a quick google when something strange appears step further and began counting in their practicetwos. She knew all about odd and even numbers. For budding vet-to-be animals are a constant source Then she began counting in threes: half of fascination the list were even numbers, but the other half was odd and they will absorb as much knowledge as it was this list of odd numbers which occurred when you can give themcounted in threes which she called ''threeven''. It is not practical (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 visit be a subset of the zoo every dayeven numbers, but getting an educational and entertaining animal encylopedia isit all worked out well when I really thought about it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241276357</amazonuk>)
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Buckingham_Dawn|title=The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus|author=DKCaz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington|rating=5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|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?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Pankhurst_Women|title=DK Children's EncyclopediaFantastically Great Women Who Made History|author=Kate Pankhurst|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=More than sixty years ago my grandparents bought me an encylopedia: A lot of history is about men. Kings and generals and inventors and politicians. Sometimes, it was a major purchase for them feels almost as they didn't really ''do'' booksthough there were no women in history at all, but it was a treasure trove for me and I still have it todaylet alone ones young girls might like to read about or regard as role models. It didnOf course, this isn't just teach me facts - it taught me how to find out information for myself true and how to use an index. It opened my eyes to subjects I'd there are plenty of women who, throughout history, have achieved amazing things or shown incredible bravery, or created something never considered and widened my knowledge on those I already lovedseen before. In formatSo here, 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 bedwonderful picture book from Kate Pankhurst, are the stories of some of them.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241283868</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Heather Alexander and Andres LozanoIgnotofsky_Sport|title=Life on EarthWomen in Sport: Dinosaurs: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps!Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win|author=Rachel Ignotofsky
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction |summary=I was ''Women in Sport'' is coming to us just before the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February 2018. It celebrates a century and a big fan half of dinosaurs when I was a nipper. Since then the science regarding them has evolved leaps and bounds. Wedevelopment of women've got in touch with them perhaps being feathereds sport by looking at fifty of its highest achievers, covering sports as diverse as swimming, fencing, riding, and have assumed colours and noises they made – we can even extrapolate from their remains what their eyesightskating, 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 Think of discovering them, analysing them, a sport 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 pioneering woman succeeding at it is probably in the laboratory?' I would put this as the answer – even if it book somewhere. Each entry is made itself of a hundred questionsdouble-page spread with a brief biography and a striking portrait.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847808972</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Rooney_Dino
|title=Discovering Dinosaurs
|author=Anne Rooney and Suzanne Carpenter
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|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.
}}
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