WCS Junior SurviveoPedia HC (Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook Junior Editions) by David Borgenicht
You probably recall all the Worst-Case Scenario books that were a big publishing phenomenon about a decade ago. They itemised things that might be a cause for concern, whether in the office, or the dating world, or the jungle. And then they seemed to run out of info, and vanish. But worry not, for the main instigator, David Borgenicht, is back, with a range of similar books for the junior audience. And here he offers a large format encyclopaedia pictorially warning us about dangers in the world around us, and offering advice for us to memorise so we can escape as best we can.
| WCS Junior SurviveoPedia HC (Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook Junior Editions) by David Borgenicht | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A good look at the things in this world that might take you out of it. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 144 | Date: September 2011 |
| Publisher: Chronicle Books | |
| ISBN: 978-0811876902 | |
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Sometimes the way out clause may sound worse than the peril - tigers like nothing less than being thumped down the throat, apparently. Sometimes the cause is self-inflicted - surfing, bull-running. Sometimes it's a natural event that of course could occur in many a time or place - a rockfall, getting lost in the woods. But whatever the threat, it gets a full double page spread, with at least one large picture, and three or so little boxes of trivia, plus the bullet points about what to do.
It's not a book that will form an explorer out of your child, even though they would know a little bit more about life in Antarctica, or the desert, and the disclaimer is there to make sure they still don't jump in the gorilla pen at the local zoo, but it is a book that will appeal to many youngsters intrigued by the documentaries on TV at their bedtime about just how vicious this world is.
It's not completely something for the adults to dismiss either, having bought it for their passing child. Could you have told me the most practical position to adopt in a free-falling lift, or identify poison ivy? It definitely is geared to a North American audience, rather than a global one, but it's on the whole a very successful volume. I can't find fault with the advice (from my insular, ignorant standpoint at least), there's only the one typo - in the staff biogs at the back - and it's been very well put together, to a high standard. I can imagine it being thumbed through for some time to come, while - touch wood - never really being needed.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
For something similar but with much more morbid humour, we lovel Deadly Peril and How To Avoid It by Tracey Turner.
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