No catches, no fine print just unconditional book loving for your children with their favourites saved to their own digital bookshelf.
New members get entered into our monthly draw to win £100 to spend in your local bookshop plus lots lots more...
Find out moreHow? Why? When? What? And Where? Kids are fascinated with the world around them and are like sponges ready to absorb details and statistics - and take great pleasure in remembering all sorts of wonderful and weird facts! This section picks a selection of non-fiction titles - we also have specialist collections on all sorts of subjects including History, Music, Science, Space, People & Places and much more!
May 2022 Book of the Month | Here’s a book parents are going to want to share with their daughters, as it celebrates confidence, difference and everything that makes us feel happy in ourselves. Shelina Janmohamed was inspired to write it by a conversation with her own young daughter and the approach she takes is clear, fun and full of information that young people will find stimulating and useful. She’s open that how you feel about the way you look matters but shows that, as ideas of beauty are always changing, across cultures and time, beauty can be what you want it to be. She introduces us to lots of women, all regarded as beautiful, who challenged conventional ideas of beauty, confident in themselves and their bodies and encourages readers to be the same. She explores the role of social media, enabling readers to look critically at images they are shown and form their own opinions. The text is always engaging and supportive, and the photos and accompanying illustrations by Chanté Timothy amplify the message being delivered. Inclusive, intelligent and inspiring, this is an empowering examination of a topic that has been preoccupying girls for centuries. Shelve it alongside Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be by Gemma Cairney, another invaluable illustrated guide to navigating growing up.
Part of the Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds series, The Secrets of the Universe tackles big questions in manageable bite-sized chunks. This colourful, compact book can’t be beaten on the accessibility front as it answers questions like “what is the universe?”, “how big is it?”, “what’s our place in it?”, with “Speak like a Scientist” boxes highlighting key terminology budding scientists will relish adding to their vocabulary. As the book takes us through the history of studying the universe, and explains everything from gravity, galaxies and the lives of stars, to the Big Bang, the infographics, photographs and cartoons make digesting big concepts a tasty delight. And, like all the books in this impressive series, The Secrets of the Universe was created by experts. In this case, the book was written by a doctor of astrophysics in consultation with a Cambridge University cosmologist.
Part of the Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds series, The Invisible World of Germs delivers fascinating information in engaging style. Kicking off with a clear explanation of what germs are, and an intriguing history, colourful cartoons introduce us to the different types of germ - bacteria, fungi, protists and viruses. At every stage, readers are armed with terminology through “Speak like a Scientist” features as we discover how germs are transmitted, our natural defences, and the future of germs. Like all the books in the series, The Invisible World of Germs was written in consultation with an expert in the field, and presented in a cute, colourful, compact format that makes exploring the subject a rewarding breeze, with plenty of easy-to-digest infographics, photographs and fun dialogue boxes.
Prize winning illustrator Mini Grey has used her many talents to create this wonderful tour of the development of our planet and all its inhabitants. Our guide in this amazing show is Rod the Roach and he and his insect pals all put on the most amazing stage show illustrating each of the developmental stages of the world. Where the stages’ wings would be there are side panels packed with information, small illustrations, and useful guides to how life might have been. The orchestra pit is where we can see the tape measure which gives us a timeline with lots of annotations, tiny illustrations and notice of when all the ice ages or warm ages happened. This is a visual delight that will have children poring over it as they look at the amazing planet that we live on. Each double page spread has so much to read and marvel at on it, that children will find it engrossing and informative in equal measures. I can see this being a classroom favourite for many years to come. This reader certainly gained a lot more knowledge about microbes than she had ever thought possible - and in such an entertaining way. The last double page spread is a full glossary of all the unusual and difficult terms that readers may not have come across before. This makes it into so much more than just an illustrated book but into a vital information resource for young readers.
Megalodon was a unique and terrifying killer, dominating every food chain in the ocean for millions of years, the ultimate prehistoric predator. So what happened to make it go extinct 3.6 million years ago in the Pliocene epoch? Scientist and TV presenter Professor Ben Garrod’s series examines the world’s mass extinctions from the point of view of creatures around at the time, and makes for an absolutely fascinating way of telling the story of life on Earth. Each book in the series is packed with scientific information, well presented through accessible text and lots of colour illustrations by a palaeoartist no less. There are additional contributions from experts, a glossary and – particularly useful – a pronunciation guide. Every book in the series will grab and hold the attention of young palaeontologists, but the story of the ferocious megalodons will be particularly gripping.
Listing one hundred exciting things to do before you get bogged down in adulthood, this is a book packed with inspiration: Anna McNuff’s enthusiasm for exploring the world is catching and she makes the idea of pushing yourself to do something new or even a bit scary really appealing. The one hundred different adventures to try range from the big, e.g. go on a long-distance cycling adventure, visit a volcano, to the open to everyone – tell spooky stories, go foraging, go on a flip a coin adventure. There’s the same level of useful, practical how-to advice for each one and the same sense of fun to be had. McNuff’s voice and friendly illustrations by Clair Rossiter make this a book to inspire dreams and it will start who knows how many journeys of discovery.
Shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2020 | A fascinating guidebook to bears large and less large, this quirky book is packed with information but full of humour too. It introduces readers to the eight different species of bears living in the world, and there’s a section on each one, with a very useful illustrated panel showing ‘how they size up’. This is followed by pages on things all or most bears do, from eating and swimming (all) to hibernating (not all). There’s a mix of text and Katie Viggers’ characterful illustrations and alongside the facts, she has lots of fun – sloth bears for example, whose long, shaggy coats mean they often look untidy, are depicted at the bear hair salon. It’s comic but memorable too. Even if you didn’t love bears at the beginning of the book, you will by the end and either way you’ll have learned a great deal.
Informative, accessible and visually very appealing, this book is perfect for any young child who gazes up in wonder at the night sky. Via short blocks of text and colour illustrations it explains what stars are, describes the constellations and tells readers how to recognise planets and even satellites. It’s also full of practical information for young star-gazers, with advice on what to look for in the night sky, when and where. Our guide is Felicity, a friendly and knowledgeable cat, named in honour of the first cat in space, an added treat which makes the story even more reader-friendly.
Following up their Blue Peter Award winning science information book A Day in the Life of a Poo, A Gnu and You, Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley take readers on a tour though history. Once again, they use ingenious, information-packed comic strips to bring the past alive for children. The first section looks at Ancient History, from early humans to the Romans, followed by tours through the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. There are three types of full colour entries too: Day in the Life strips give a snapshot of different points of history and are recounted by subjects such as a wheel in Mesopotamia, a Russian beard and – my favourite – a dead sheep, later to become the Magna Carta. Pages called Secret Diaries provide readers with an inside view, e.g. that of Isaac Newton’s cat, Spithead. Newsflashes helpfully bring headlines from around the rest of the world, explaining what was happening elsewhere at the time. It makes for a lively and engaging presentation; a book children will want to go back to again and again for all the stories and jokes learning lots each time. There’s a useful world map at the beginning and a glossary at the end. A clever and memorable way of teaching history.
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Awards 2021, Best Book with Facts | A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu and You is packed with facts, laughs and amazing illustrations you can dive into all day long. Meet your grumpy liver that has to do practically EVERYTHING; your trusty hands that are very, well, handy; the spiky porcupines ready to charge; lonely Mars rovers abandoned on the Red Planet; raging tornadoes ready to rip through the pages of the book and bubbly volcanoes ready to blow. All entries are told in the fun, friendly and informative style of Mike Barfield, and are brought to life by the colour-explosion of Jess Bradley's awesome illustrations.
This enchanting reinvention of a Natural History of Fairies written by botanist Professor Elsie Arbour in the 1920s glows with timeless charm and the magic of nature. What’s more, author Emily Hawkins’s message about protecting fairies’ natural habitats has important real-world resonance, such as this: “human actions are putting fairies’ habitats at risk. When forests and woodland are cut down to make space for farmland…then fairies’ homes are destroyed.” Fairy enthusiasts will delight in the detail of the softly-radiant illustrations that present fairy anatomy and life cycles in the manner of natural history books, replete with labels and descriptions. Throughout, the book is suffused with a thrilling feeling that fairies might be found - if you know what you’re looking for, and where to look. The section on language and secret scripts will undoubtedly inspire young readers to write their own fairy codes, while coverage of a huge range of habitats - from meadows, gardens and woodlands, to mountains, marine environments and jungles - gives a satisfying global feel. Alongside providing fairy-lovers with much fodder for exploration, this coverage of habitats, and information on the likes of leaves, plants and animals, might also spark a wider love of nature. Sumptuously presented, with a silk bookmark, and gold edging and cover foil supplementing Jessica Roux’s illustrations, this book’s style is every bit as charming as its content, which makes it a gift to treasure.
Longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2021 | Award-winning author-illustrator Neal Layton is here to explain where plastic comes from, why it doesn't biodegrade, and why that's dangerous for animals and humans alike. But he's also FULL of ideas for how you can help! From giving up straws in juice cartons to recycling all we can and taking part in a beach clean, A Planet Full of Plastic will get young readers excited about how they can make a difference to keep Planet Earth happy.
Crammed full of information which will answer a great many questions about what goes on in the universe around us; this is a brilliantly written introduction which has been cleverly simplified for younger readers from the hugely successful original by Bill. Divided into short chapters which make it easier to understand and supported by an excellent index, the story of how the universe came into being, how humans evolved, how we have discovered what we know about space and much, much more are all well described and attractively illustrated.
Crammed full of information which will answer a great many questions about what goes on in the universe around us; this is a brilliantly written introduction which has been cleverly simplified for younger readers from the hugely successful original by Bill. Divided into short chapters which make it easier to understand and supported by an excellent index, the story of how the universe came into being, how humans evolved, how we have discovered what we know about space and much, much more are all well described and attractively illustrated.
Longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2020 | This is a historical treasure-trove of information about, pretty much, everything and everywhere. It is almost impossible to put down, with fascinating stories tumbling over each other. Its crisp and clear writing plays well with the photographs and illustrations. It is destined to become a favourite for curious young minds.
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.
Check out the latest activities in our KidsZone.
CHECK OUT OUR INDIE AND SELF PUBLISHED BOOK REVIEW AND PROMOTION SERVICE