Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|Children's Non-Fiction]]{{adsense2}}__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Judith KerrB0GFQ81YQK|title=Judith Kerr's CreaturesHow the Sky and the Earth Made People: A Celebration of From the Life and Work Oral Stories of Judith KerrMalagasy Elders|author=Stephanie Zabriskie|rating=4.5|genre=AutobiographyChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=In children's literature Before people came and joined the animals, there are some authors whom you know are not just reliablewas only the sky and the earth. Everything was quiet until the earth and the sky began to tal to each other. First, the earth created bodies. And then, but always impressivethe sky breathed life into them. One of those names is [[:Category:Judith Kerr|Judith Kerr]]These were the first humans and they belonged to both earth and sky. For decades she's been delighting our children (And so people lived between sky and soil and they planted and learned and grandchildren) but it still remembered, especially how they came as something of a surprise to discover that she would be ninety in June 2013. To celebrate thisWhen they grew old and died, Harper Collins have published ''Creatures'' in which Judith tells not just her own story but their bodies returned to the earth and their life returned to the sky. And that of is why the ''creatures'' - earth and the characters in her books and her family - who have contributed to her inspirational lifesky are both revered. Only together can they create human beings. It And that iswhy people must pay attention to, thoughand care for, far more than just an autobiography with a marvellous collection of paintings, drawings and memorabiliaboth.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007513216</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B0GHPMNF6P|authortitle=Sharky How the Sky and Georgethe Earth Made People: From the Oral Stories of Malagasy Elders|titleauthor=Don't You DareStephanie Zabriskie

|summary=Older readers like myself may recognise a great many of Sharky Before people came and George's ideas from our own childhood gamesjoined the animals, there was only the sky and the earth. Everything was quiet until the earth and the sky began to tal to each other. First, in the days when children's games usually did take place outdoorsearth created bodies. Most of us will have played games like torch tag (which is enemy spotlight in this book)And then, cops the sky 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 robbersthey planted and learned and remembered, boxes with a pen especially how they came to be. When they grew old and paper, made drip sand castlesdied, skimmed a stone or built a dam in childhood. So you might ask - why do need a book their bodies returned to teach us games we already know how the earth and their life returned to play? The sad fact the sky. And that is, most of these games why the earth and the sky are rapidly being forgottenboth revered. I rarely see children other than my own play any type of tag or hide Only together can they create human beings. And that is why people must pay attention to, and seek gamescare for, both.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405258292</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Davide Cali The Maasai are a cattle-herding people and Gabrriella Giandelli|title=Monsters this story writes down its oral tradition explaining how they came to be so. Cattle are status and Legends|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=My sons love stories of unsolved mysteries, monsters and mythical creatures. Like many boys, my oldest has a very strong leaning towards wealth in Maasai culture but this doesn't tell the non-fiction side whole story of things. This book is for children who want to know how the legends were bornintimate and symbiotic connection its people, if any of the creatures could be realand especially its women, have with their cows and what for the science behind the story isnatural world. I do feel this book is better suited to older children seeking a more rational explanation to The oral tradition retelling the old stories, but my youngest did enjoy it as well. It might be useful for a child many conversations Maasai women have had with a slight fear of monsters to get a more realistic view of themtheir cows, but I would use caution with a child who is truly terrified of monsters as it might just give them more things to be afraid ofdoes.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1909263036</amazonuk>B0G9WTGY6J

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Punk Science1839948493|title=Do Try This at Home: Cook It!!A World of Dogs|author=Carlie Sorosiak and Luisa Uribe

|summary=In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that I''Do Try This At Home - Cook It!!'' is m a fun, very boy friendly ( but not just sucker for boys) cookbook combining very basic recipes, science facts and a few science experiments with fooddogs. Not every recipe in this book includes science facts and in some the science bit is limited to mentioning vitamins or giving us a very simple fact like the fact a tomato is a fruit In nearly eight decades, or a water chestnut isnI've never met one I didn't really a nut. But other recipes have quite a bit trust and I've loved most of scientific informationthem. For instance this will tell you why cooking makes an egg hard, but makes cheese softerI wish I felt the same about human beings. Children will learn what an emulsion is So, why onions make us cryany book about dogs, how yeast worksI'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'', how with ninety-six pages devoted entirely to make a bouncing rubbermy four-legged friends. Author Carlie Sorosiak found herself the accidental owner of an American Dingo -like egg and how to make a colour changing cabbage solution that will tell if she's learned quite a substance is acid or alkalinelot about dogs since then.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447205537</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Glenn Murphy1529507987|title=Super Geek, Dinosaurs, Brains The Repair Shop Craft Book|author=Walker Books and SupertrainsSonia Albert (Illustrator)

|summary=Super GeekI love ''The Repair Shop''. It's my go-to programme when I want to be cheered up. After a hard day, Dinosaursthere's nothing better than watching experts repair treasured items without ever mentioning what they're worth. You see, Brains and Supertrains the value is divided into eight sections. The first four sections in what these possessions are questions on dinosaurs worth to the people who own them and prehistoric life, the human brain, memories they hold. natural disasters No expense appears to be spared and finally transport. The following four sections are the experts spend as much longer time and provide not only the answers effort as is required to achieve the previous sections' questions, but a detailed, scientific explanation in clear easy to understand language that even my four year old can usually followdesired result. These answers are very well written Regular viewers know the experts and quite interesting to both of my children, and even as an adult I found this both educational and entertainingthey're all brilliant at explaining what it is they're doing. I have to admit, I learned a few things from this book as well, and we will certainly be brushing up on our knowledge of the human brain before bringing this out again.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447227166</amazonuk> But how did they start?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Melissa Wareham024162343X|title=Rescuing Gus|rating=4|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=Melissa Wareham was ''convinced'' that she must be adopted: how could someone like her who ''loved'' dogs have been born to parents who, well, wouldn't have them in the house? She wasn't even that convinced when her mother produced her birth certificate. Melissa wouldn't be able to have a dog until she had a home of her own but in the meantime she got a job at Battersea Dogs' Home and it was there that she met Gus. He wasn't in the first flush of youth and his breath was a weapon of mass destruction, but he and Melissa bonded and when he was very poorly - he had kennel cough - she took him home.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849418179</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewStolen History|author=Terry Deary and Martin Brown|title=Deadly Days in History (Horrible Histories)Sathnam Sanghera

|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 'What If Humans Were More Like Animalsgod' takes various unusual animal attributes and imagines what . Where was the proof? In history lessons, it would be like if humans had an equivalent behaviour, ability, or physical featurewas probably worse still. For instance, if we had teeth like a shark Not too long after the end of WWII, we wouldnI didn't have so much want to worry learn about eating too many sweets, brushing our teeth, or even chomping down on a hard object. Whenever a tooth fell out, a new one would take its place. If we had the comparative strength of a Hercules beetle, we could lift a double decker bus, British army's successes (and if we could jump the equivalent of a froghopper insectoccasional failures, but wedidn'd t dwell on those) in what came to be able to leap over sky scrapers with ease. Not all of called 'the animal traits would be so much fun though. We wouldncolonies't as want our parents to eat us if we were not as strong as our siblings like dispute what right the army had to be there in the volefirst place. Looking back, and while eyes on our hands like a starfish might have a few advantages, it would be very awkward as well I still believe I was right - who wants but I regret that I lacked the maturity to pick things up with their eyes?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780550421</amazonuk>approach 'the problem' politely. I wish I'd had Sathnam Sanghera's ''Stolen History''.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alan SnowJeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene|title=How Dinosaurs Really Work|rating=4.5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=It’s sometimes difficult to find books which appeal to reluctant readers, particularly boys. Three cheers, then, for Alan Snow who has produced a really smashing book about those ever-popular dinosaurs. Here is a book which will appeal not only to bright kids during their inevitable dinosaur phase, Fritz and also to more struggling readers, a little later on. This is exactly the sort of book kids can pore over for several weeks on end in order to become something of an authority on prehistoric animals in front of their mates.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857073141</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Tony Robinson|title=Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders - World War IIKurt

|genre=Children's Non-FictionConfident Readers|summary=Tony Robinson's Weird World We start with the pair of Wonders is an informativebrothers Fritz and Kurt, and their muckers, easy doing things any Jewish lad in 1930s Vienna would want to read book for children covering WW2. I would describe do – kicking things around the empty market place, helping the neighbours, being dutiful when it as something of a cross between comes to the synagogue choir and at a vocational school text book and Terry Deary. Kurt has to make sure the lamps are turned on at their very Orthodox neighbours's Horrible Histories series - each Friday night – the Sabbath preventing them for using anything nearly as much mechanical and workmanlike as I am certain Mr Deary would shudder at the thought of any of his books being crossed with a text booklight switch. This isn But this is the time just before the Austrian leader is going to cave to Hitler't quite factss will, facts and nothing but instead of having a national vote to keep the factsNazis out, it does break things up invite them in with humouropen arms. ''Kristallnacht'' happened in Vienna just as much as in Germany, but I would describe this as book meant did all the round-ups of Jews. These in their turn leave the younger Kurt at home with his mother and sisters anxious to teach historyhear word of an evacuation to Britain or the US, unlike Deary's books which I would describe as books which make reading funwhile Fritz and his father are, and just happen unknown initially to inform children each other, packed off on history as wellthe 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>1447227689</amazonuk>024156574X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Terry Deary1913750353|title=The Beastly Best Bits (Horrible Histories)Britannica's Word of the Day|author=Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy

|summary=Horrible Histories''Britannica's Word of the Day'' has a sub-title: The Beastly Best Bits begins ''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 a brief introduction by a black clad executioner who looks like he has stepped of the pages of the [[Terrifying Tudors ''Razzmatazz'', tells you how to pronounce it (Horrible Histories''raz-muh-TAZ'') by Terry Deary|Horrible Histories Terrifying Tudors]] book. Our friendly executioner will be our guide for the rest of the book, pointing out some of gives you a definition and then includes the most gruesome moments word in history. After some classic gallows humour and a brief mention of Vlad the Impaler we begin the tour with ancient Mesopotamiasentence so that you know how it should be used. The book includes the Assyrians, Sumerians, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Celts, Vikings, Normans, Samurai Aztecs, Incas, Irish You also get an engaging and Americansfrequently amusing illustration too. It also covers several different periods of English history, gangsters in The Roaring 20 I don't think I's, ve ever encountered a word which uses the first and second world wars, and a quick section on Ruthless Rulers.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407136100</amazonuk>letter Z four times before!

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Terry Deary0711266204|title=Terrifying Tudors The Secret Life of Birds|author=Moira Butterfield and Vivian Mineker (Horrible Historiesillustrator)

|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 always thought Terry Deary was years ahead of his time. He was writing books that boys really wanted established which species feed from the ground, which pop to read many years before the current emphasis on boy friendly reading material feeders for a quick snatch of some food and all the efforts to close the ever widening gender gap who settles in readingfor a good munch but I wish I was more knowledgeable. Horrible Histories It would have always been brilliant to motivate boys to readwonderful if, as a child, but the older copies do show their age. Progress has been made in the way books are printed I'd had access to make them more accessible to struggling readers over the last 20 years. Horrible Histories new editions celebrating a book such as ''20 Horrible YearsThe Secret Life of Birds'' has addressed this issue and makes the books not only the type of books that boys want to read, but also the type of book that younger children or those with reading difficulties can read.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407135783</amazonuk> So – what is it?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Terry Deary0192779230|title=Awful Egyptians (Horrible Histories)Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs|author=Isabel Thomas

|summary='Germs'Facts, facts and nothing but the facts'' - if this is your idea of seems to have become a history book catch- stop right hereall word to cover anything unpleasant which has the potential to make you ill. Terry Deary's Horrible Histories do contain facts, In the first book in what looks to be a well laid out easy to follow manner. But Terry Deary did not intend to write the Horrible History as history booksvery promising new series, but rather as joke books. They may OUP and Isabel Thomas have ended up with far more history than he originally intended, but they remain provided a collection of amusing stories clear and jokes, rather than a collection of dry facts. Deary never intended his books to be used accessible introduction to teach history - in fact the mere mention world of this really sets him offgerms. He set out to write books that children wanted to read, books that are both engaging We get an informed look at how people originally thought about diseases and entertaining, what they thought caused them and whether he intended it as such or not - he how the thinking has created developed over time. The vocabulary can be confusing but Thomas gives a series which truly engages boys long before this concept became popular. Very few children pick up regular box headed 'speak like a book because they want to learn about history. Children pick up Dearyscientist's books because he speaks directly to them, not in which explains some of the language of authority trickiest concepts and the adult worldyou'll soon be familiar with bacteria, but in a as co-conspirator. They read his books because they are funfungi, but because he makes history both entertaining protists and viruses – and relevant to them, they actually do learn this as well. What's more, they remember it unlike the facts they might memorise for a history quizhow we should protect ourselves.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407135759</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|authorisbn=Terry Deary1406395404|title=Measly Middle Ages (Horrible Histories)The Awesome Power of Sleep: How Sleep Super-Charges Your Teenage Brain|author=Nicola Morgan

|genre=Children's Non-FictionTeens|summary=The Horrible Histories series is 2020 has been a favourite strange year: I doubt anyone would argue with both schools that statement. Lots of our routines have been completely dismantled and Home Educators, but Terry Deary never intended his books 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 used in educationdoing) and others will worry unnecessarily. He originally set out to write a joke book Most people, based on a historical subject, but freed from children to adults will have the constraints odd bad night but worrying about your lack of school - he discovered what so many of us have also found - history really sleep is funonly likely to make it worse. Instead of a joke book with a bit of history And there's also the fact that for far too long, Deary ended up with a history book - with quite a lot lack of jokes. But these books were never intended sleep has been lauded as educational texts, they were written a virtue and sleep made to entertain, and seem like laziness. his Horrible Histories - Measly Middle Ages does just thatBeing up early, it entertains both children working late has been praised and adults. It is difficult the ability to read any of Deary's books without learning survive on little sleep has almost become something, but learning is incidental - the fun comes firstto put on your CV.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407135767</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Hallfridur Olafsdottir and Porarinn Mar Baldursson1849767343|title=Maximus Musicus Visits the OrchestraCount on Me|author=Miguel Tanco|rating=34.5

|summary=One day Maxi wanders into The title and format of this book might lead you to think that it's either about responsibility - or it's a rehearsal of basic 1-2-3 book for those just starting out on the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, where he is entranced to hear Ravel’s Boleronumbers journey. He encounters most of the orchestral instruments and there’s It isn't: it's a lot hymn of whimsical humour as Maxi moves from instrument praise to instrumentmaths. Eventually he falls asleep on the stage, tired out by the excitement of his adventures. He wakes to a loud booming noise as the beginning of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony It's about why maths is played, so wonderful and he finds that the orchestra is in concert. He scuttles down into a packed auditorium. At the end of the concert, Maximus joins how you meet it in the standing ovation which precedes the stirring home-grown encoreeveryday life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1937330176</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Philip Ardagh1849767009|title=The Truth About LoveIt Isn't Rude to be Nude|author=Rosie Haine|rating=45|genre=Children's Non-FictionFor Sharing|summary=We are never too far from springtime, when, This could have been one of course, a 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 'young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of loveknow''. [[:Category:Philip Ardagh|Beardy Ardagh]] is hoping that young peopleit's fancies turn shameful will avoid it like they avoid the hot-and-bothered person in the supermarket who is coughing fit to trivia bust. But... Rosie Haines makes it into something so much more than a book about love customs, predictions not wearing clothes. It's a celebration of who they'll marry bodies: bodies large and small and what the whole symbolism around love, Valentines of every possible hue. Bodies with disabilities and marriage meanmarkings. They're fine. The emphasis is on young – this book is definitely suited for the primary school libraryIn fact, although he slips up once when asking if we think our partners smell nicethey're wonderful.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144720784X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sharon Werner and Sarah Nelson Forss1776572858|title=Alphasaurs How Do You Make a Baby?|author=Anna Fiske and Other Prehistoric TypesDon Bartlett (translator)|rating=4.5|genre=Children's Non-FictionHome and Family|summary=I suppose you could describe any book about dinosaurs as being It's more than sixty-five million years in the makingsince I asked how babies were made. What is definite is My mother was deeply embarrassed and told me that this title was certainly not knocked up overnightshe'd get me a book about it. After A couple of days later I was handed a suitably clever, rhyming introduction, we enter pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the world of prehistory with Abasics, in clinical language which had never been used in our house before) and exit with ZI was told that it wouldn't be discussed any further as it ''wasn't something which nice people talked about''. I ''knew'' more, having met 27 (yes, therebut was little ''wiser''s a surprise guest entrant) animals along the way. And the way we meet them on these supremely clever pages is the selling pointThankfully, times have changed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1609051939</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mike Dilger1526362759|title=Wild Town (RSPB)Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It|author=Rashmi Sirdeshpande|rating=4.5

|summary=Would you like to know what What a relief! A book about the thriving wildlife in Britain's towns and cities? What natural riches are out theremoney, if only you know where (and how) to look? ''Wild Town'' will tell you. Divided into habitats - desertfor children, grasslandswith clear explanations of what it is, wetlandswhy it matters, forests, scrub, caves how to acquire more of it (nope - the book describes animals, robbing banks is out) and some plants, to be found in each. You'll be amazed at whatyou can do with it when you's out thereve managed to get hold of it. And you Your reasons for wanting money don'll find out a lot about a teeming natural world right on your doorstept matter: we all need it to some extent. It will tell you the best places You might want to spot animals and plants - andgo into business, thanks to the wonderful photographybe a clever shopper, a saver (youmight even become an ''investor''ll have no trouble recognising them once ) and there might be something youreally, ''re therereally'' want to buy. From There's also the iconic foxes and badgers possibility of using to do good in the less well known species of bird, amphibian and insect, it's all there in all its diversity and beautyworld.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408173905</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Camilla de la Bedoyere, John Farndon, Ian Graham, Richard Platt and Philip Steele178112938X|title=Discover the Awesome WorldSurvival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission|author=David Long and Stefano Tambellini (illustrator)|rating=45|genre=Children's Non-FictionDyslexia Friendly|summary=Back in 2011 I was impressed by [[Discover the Extreme World by Camilla de la Bedoyere, Clive Gifford, John Farndon, Steve Parker, Stewart Ross and Philip Steele]]. I said that In my day it would have been called an encyclopaedia. It would have had a lot more text, been rather dull – and remained largely unread by those who received it as a worthy present, but with that book you needed to start at the opposite end of the scale. It's about visual impact. A fact is linked to a picture and fifty years since the more striking Apollo 13 mission was launched from the better – and only then is it explained. The text is as simple as possible – clearKennedy Space Centre in Florida, unambiguous wording which drives but the point home as quickly as possible. The layout encourages you to move the book so story of that you see journey remains one of the pictures better and can read the wordsgreatest survival stories of all time. It ''s fun and (say it quietly) itSurvival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission's educational. Now I'm not in the habit is a brilliant retelling of recycling reviews (honest!) but sometimes you know that you can't say it any better as exactly the same comments apply to Discover the Awesome Worldwhat happened.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848108559</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Steve MartinKathleen Boucher and Sara Chadwick|title=Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy: Cool Nine Ways to Remember StuffEmpower Tweens

|genre=Children's Non-FictionConfident Readers|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 remember. They need 9 Ways to have methods of jogging their memories. Empower Tweens'Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy' gives them lots of ways of remembering is a rich variety of factsself-help book for tweens, but also shows setting out to show them how they can develop their own ways of helping their memoryvital #lifeskills. ItDon's t groan! I know there is a book about mnemonics market glut of such as rhymesbooks for we grown-ups and for young adults too, acrostics, stories, grouping, linking, pictures, acronyms and wordplay. It's not just the methods of remembering that are but there - there are all sorts of facts is a needful space in with the methodsan increasingly technological world accessible to younger and younger children for material for tweens too. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1780551053</amazonuk>0228818826}}

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sarah Goldschadt1609809173|title=Craft-A-Day: 365 Simple Handmade ProjectsEiffel's Tower for Young People|author=Jill Jonnes|rating=45

|summary=Looking back on my childhood Brash and elegant, sophisticated, controversial and vibrant, the 1889 World's Fair in Paris encompassed the best, the worst and the most useful skill I acquired was that of making thingsbeautiful from many countries and cultures. I was the daughter of a man who made a greenhouse The French Republic laid out of a derelict busmodel villages from all their colonies, so it was inevitable that something would rub off put on meart shows, dance performances, food festivals and concerts to stun the senses. Well over half a century later And towering above it still stands me in good stead: I can see ''how'' to make thingsall, ''how'' to solve problems the most popular and my imagination was fired up at an early stage. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a bus-to-greenhouse converter in-house, but the best start is being encouraged most hated monument to make things ''regularly'' French accomplishment and learning that you don't always have to buy everything you need. A drum roll, please for Sarah Goldschadt's ''Craft-A-Day''daring – the Eiffel Tower.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594745951</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robert Leroy Ripley1848576536|title=Ripley's Believe It or Not 2013Humanatomy: How the Body Works|author=Nicola Edwards and Jem Maybank|rating=45

|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, shockingGet under your own skin, 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 passedpick your brains, but these books can be read year after year and theygo inside your insides!'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=ChildrenThat's Non-Fiction|summary=The first point that author Fiona Foden stresses is that this is a book about how what ''Humanatomy'' invites you to be gorgeousdo and honestly, but she goes on to explain that this isnI don'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 see how youcould resist. It's about having confidence in who you are and having This informative book provides a positive energy wonderful primer about you. It's about having great friends the human body to curious children- and ''being'' a great friend, in fact being from the sort of person that everyone wants skeletal system to know. She promises that most of what she suggests is not going to break the Bank - somethings are virtuallymuscular system via circulation, if not totallyrespiration and digestion, free and it's all easy. So how does it live right up to the promises?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407132695</amazonuk>DNA that makes who we are.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Harriet Ziefert and Liz MurphyLangford_Emily|title=ABC Dentist: Healthy Teeth from A to ZEmily's Numbers|author=Joss Langford

|summary=I hope that children are not as fearful of going Emily found words ''useful'', but counting was what she loved best. Obviously, you can count anything and there's no limit to the dentist as used regularly to be the casehow far you can go, but then Emily moved a step further and began counting in twos. She knew all about odd and even those who are unworried will benefit from this useful book directed mainly at numbers. Then she began counting in threes: half of the five to ten age grouplist were even numbers, although I'm sure that older children will find but the other half was odd and it was this list of interest tooodd numbers which occurred when you counted in threes which she called ''threeven''. The ABC format might suggest (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 younger age rangesubset of the even numbers, but don't be fooled!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1609052749</amazonuk>it all worked out well when I really thought about it.)

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael RosenBuckingham_Dawn|title=Fantastic Mr DahlThe Little Book of the Dawn Chorus|author=Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington

|genre=Children's Non-FictionAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Reading this book is rather like curling up in What a deep, squishy armchair with a cup treat! I really did mean to just ''glance'' at ''The Little Book of the Dawn Chorus'' but the pull of the sounds of cocoa and some squashed-fly biscuits while a favourite uncle chats dozen different birds singing their hearts out was far too much to you about booksresist on a cold and rather wet February morning. He tells you interesting things I spent an indulgent hour or so reading all 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 birds and love the storieslistening to their song. Just as important, he pauses in his chat from time to time to ask your opinion — Then - just because I could - I went back and did it's clear he's really interested in your answer. Do you prefer the original version of ''James all again and it was just as good the Giant Peach''second time around. So, or the one which was eventually published? Can what do you imagine how funny it would be to see your grandfather looking in through your bedroom window, like the BFGget?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141322136</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sally Kindberg and Tracey TurnerPankhurst_Women|title=The Comic Strip Book of DinosaursFantastically Great Women Who Made History|author=Kate Pankhurst|rating=35

|summary=If I asked you 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 put your hands up if you had a dinosaur book read about or regard as a youth Irole models. Of course, this isn'd feel the draught from here. My grander examples certainly stayed on my shelves for years t true and survived several readingsthere are plenty of women who, and I'm sure that's not unique - plusthroughout history, over the intervening years science has learnt a lot of extra factshave achieved amazing things or shown incredible bravery, to make the books more accurateor created something never seen before. Here thenSo here, for in this wonderful picture book from Kate Pankhurst, are the 5-9s, is a primer stories of some of prehistory, and one such as the young me never hadthem.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408817462</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=VariousIgnotofsky_Sport|title=Hello Kitty DictionaryWomen in Sport: Fifty Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win|author=Rachel Ignotofsky

|summary=The Hello Kitty Dictionary takes a concept that many young students might not find too interesting (me, on ''Women in Sport'' is coming to us just before the other hand, I love books full of words) and puts Winter Olympics in South Korea in February 2018. It celebrates a colourful century and fun spin on it. Because if you’re having to look up how to spell a wordhalf of the development of women's sport by looking at fifty of its highest achievers, or what something meanscovering sports as diverse as swimming, it helps to have pages with lemon and violet and aquamarine bordersfencing, riding, skating, dotted with presents and hearts and starsmuch more. That’s not to say the dictionary isn’t clear Think of a sport and easy to read because a pioneering woman succeeding at it certainly is: the decorations don’t extend into the centre of the pages, probably in this book somewhere. Each entry is a double-page spread with a brief biography and the entries themselves are bold fuchsia followed by neat black explanations, all neatly formatted on crisp white pagesa striking portrait.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007457197</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Francesca Simon and Tony RossRooney_Dino|title=A Horrid Factbook: FoodDiscovering Dinosaurs|author=Anne Rooney and Suzanne Carpenter

|summary=For Lift the flap books have progressed somewhat since I was a horrid child our Henry has acquired . This one comes with sounds! Taking us layer by layer, through various different ages of dinosaurs, we meet a lot variety of factscreatures, you know and the latest some of his Horrid Fact Books is about food. It follows the usual format whom are very familiar but some I'd never heard of quick-fire facts liberally accompanied before! Each scene peels open, layer by brilliant illustrations from Tony Ross. The book's divided into chapters which layer, showing you what the various dinosaurs are just the right length getting up to appeal to the emerging reader , with background noises, roars and squawks to give accompany them! The book creates a regular feel-good buzz when theredinosaur experience, rather than just being facts about dinosaurs it's another chapter under very visual, placing the belt. With ninety-nine pages of text there's enough to give the sense of having read ''a book'' but without it being dinosaurs in their habitats and giving us sounds too much of a trial. It ticks all the boxes as an early readerthat spike your imagination.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444006339</amazonuk>