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Find out moreHow many times as parents are we asked How? Why? When? And Where? Questions? Help your kids to get to know more about the world around you with our Fascinating Facts category - The perfect way of cramming their heads full of facts without them even noticing.
There’s always something irresistible about flaps and lifting them to see what’s hidden beneath and they are put to very good use in this robust and attractive information book. Here lifting the flaps reveals facts, diagrams and illustrations all showing young readers more about our planet, from what’s under the Earth’s crust, to what’s inside a volcano or glacier, to how a tornado develops. It’s clever and well-thought out, an excellent and memorable way of conveying lots of information. Peep through cut-outs on each page make it feel even more fun and interactive.
When the Whales Walked tackles a big, complex subject – the evolution of life on Earth – and succeeds in explaining it clearly, vividly and in way that will catch the imagination of young readers. It examines thirteen case studies, each describing the evolution of a different group of animals, from the earliest fish right up to modern Homo Sapiens. It explains the history of each group with the help of illustrations and diagrams, challenging children to spot the patterns in the ways that different animals have evolved. There’s a timeline of life on Earth, diagrams to explain the evolutionary tree and a cladogram, all there to help make the subject crystal clear. A book that thoroughly respects the intelligence and inquisitiveness of its readers and rewards their attention.
This is an excellent first information book: full of facts that will intrigue the very young and spark their imagination. Each page features a different wild animal, native to the savannah, as a sturdy pop-up that will surprise and delight with each reading. We meet and learn about lions, giraffes, hippos, meerkats and elephants as well as about their shared habitat. The animals are captured in lines of rhyming text, with extra lines providing additional factual information. The illustrations are bold and eye-catching, and it all adds up to an excellent package.
Take the very young on a trip into the high mountains in this excellent first information book. Each page features a stunning pop-up depicting one of the animals native to the mountains, from wolf to bear, from Bald Eagle to a Rainbow Trout, particularly beautiful and dramatic in rich reds and greens. The animals are introduced via lines of verse while elsewhere on the page short lines of text convey interesting and intriguing facts. The pop-ups are not only beautiful but sturdy enough to stand repeated readings, and this is a book to inspire the very young.
This fascinating and highly pore-overable book maps the United Kingdom not via contours or motorway networks, but through its people, habits and history. It takes readers on a journey round our green and pleasant land region by region, packing colour double page illustrations of the relevant bit of sceptred isle with representations of notable people who were born or lived there, of important things that happened there, of notable places and quirky local customs – well-dressing in Nottinghamshire, bog snorkelling in Llanwrtyd Wells, the spring cuckoo festival in Marsden. It lists each area’s favourite dish too, in short giving readers a true flavour of Great Britain. The text is lively and thoroughly engaging and the pictures are equally energetic.
Readers meet some very strange creatures in this strikingly illustrated information book. There’s a Hairy Frog, which shares a defence tactic with Wolverine; the Pacific Barreleye, which with its see-through head may be the spookiest of the deep-sea ‘spookfish’; and the Pangolin, protected by armour-like scales. Their physical appearances are vividly described in Marilyn Singer’s text which explains too how their peculiar features or behaviour keep these animals safe. Full page colour illustrations by Paul Daviz present the creatures in all their weird and wonderful glory. Children will be amazed at how practical and fantastic the natural world can be, and inspired to protect the animals featured, many of whom are threatened by the creature described on page 46, the human.
In the name of science, this book allows children to create gloopy, magic slime; turn milk sour; and investigate their own farts. Well, you can’t say you weren’t warned: seldom has a title so accurately reflected the contents of a book. Sticky and stinky as the 32 experiments are however, they teach proper science, and each one is accompanied by a page of clear explanation of the different processes involved. There’s a page recommending further reading and a useful glossary, and the unorthodox approach could well inspire lots more science learning. Grown-ups can be reassured that amongst other things, the ‘rules of the lab’ emphasise the importance of cleaning up afterwards.
September 2018 Non-Fiction Book of the Month | This sumptuous book, packed with gorgeous full and double-page illustrations by Thomas Hegbrook, will appeal to a very broad audience. Its subject – of course – is the Moon, our nearest and most familiar neighbour in space, and a source of fascination to mankind for thousands of years. Chapters cover both what we know of the moon, and what we’ve imagined; there are detailed and fascinating explanations of the moon’s physical relationship to Earth, and lots too on the Apollo missions and space exploration. Also included are different cultures’ moon myths, and examples of the beautiful poetry it has inspired. And there are quirky, unexpected facts – it seems the moon really can affect our behaviour for example. A book to intrigue and inform.
Shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2020 | Via simple but elegant illustrations, and a gentle sometimes playful rhyming text, this picture book passes on all sorts of information about water and its importance, while never losing the sense of the beauty of this essential element. Words and illustrations take us back in time to the beginning of life on Earth, up hills and deep below the surface to explain that “clouds, rain, river, sea, water cycles endlessly”. Carefully placed splashes of colour underscore pages of different blues, the tinkling rhythm of the text bringing a sense of calm. It all concludes with five fascinating facts about the “world wide wet” and this is a book to savour on lots of different levels.
Packed full of interesting facts and quirky details, presented in bite-sized chunks of text and vibrant illustrations The Awesome Book of Space lives up to its name. Adam Frost was the worthy winner of the Blue Peter Best Book of Facts 2016 with The Epic Book of Epicness and brings his eye-catching style and enthusiasm to the subject of space covering space travel, planets and stars but with plenty of bizarre facts too such as on Mars snowflakes are square, Russian cosmonauts change their pants once a week and the most likely day to see 'aliens' is the 4th July! With the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings in 2019 there will be many books published on this subject but for 5-9 year olds you'd struggle to find an more entertaining and informative source.
This is a perfect book for anyone who likes gazing up into the skies above our head and wondering … A foldout, concertina poster format allows readers to soar billions of kilometres above earth and explore our solar system; floating 380,000 kilometres up is the moon, a bit lower are astronauts and cosmonauts working hard on the International Space Station. Beneath the Karman Line, the imaginary line that marks the start of space, the skies are just as busy with man-made machines and birds flying on their journeys. It’s endlessly fascinating, Yuval Zommer’s bold, bright illustrations are full of action, storks and spaceships, meteoroids and window cleaners equally beautifully represented while Charlotte Guillain’s enthusiasm for her subjects is infectious. Eye-opening, mind-expanding!
Each page in this beautifully illustrated and important book takes readers into a different habitat, from across the globe. A page of lyrical text describes each setting while another verse gives an animal itself a voice to speak about its home bringing these faraway places immediately to life. Animals and plants gleam in Jonny Lambert’s vibrant collage style artwork, skilful design ensuring that each page teems with life. Die cut windows on each page cleverly demonstrate the way animals can pop up in different habitats, leopards inhabiting the savannah as well as lush rainforests. Eye-catching in the very best sense of the word, this is an inspiring information book. ~ Andrea Reece
Our Fascinating Facts category includes titles that children of all ages can really get their teeth into and enjoy whilst also filling up their brain with useful facts to help them better understand our amazing world.
Non-fiction readers will enjoy some additional special features we have on the LoveReading4Kids site, packed with interesting factual books to suit a range of ages;
30 Seconds - This striking, energetic series takes a rapid-fire ‘look and learn’ approach to curriculum-linked subjects suitable for children aged 8 and over. With fascinating topics ranging from Space to Inventions, from Myths to the Human Brain, each of these books presents a key subject in a fresh and fascinating format.
The Academy Series - a great non-fiction series for children aged 7 to 10 approximately offering an introduction to a range of subjects through fun activities and imaginative play.
Little People, Big Dreams - Discover the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.
The What On Earth? series from Christopher Lloyd which brings facts to life! Each book contains a fold-out timeline, with intricate illustrations and bitesize pieces of information, which show the complete story of a range of popular non-fiction subjects including Science, History, Sport, Shakespeare and Nature.
You can read more about the What on Earth series in our special section here or visit www.whatonearthbooks.com/shop where, in addition to the fantastic Wallbooks there are a range of sticker books and poster books available.
This category will be refreshed regularly as we find what we think are the best of breed books across age ranges and interests but all of them in their own way will bring factual information vividly to life. So whether you have a keen reader or a reluctant one, a toddler or a teenager there's something here for them to get their teeth into.
