More than sixty years ago my grandparents bought me an encylopedia: it was a major purchase for them as they didn't really do books, but it was a treasure trove for me and I still have it today. It didn't just teach me facts - it taught me how to find out information for myself and how to use an index. It opened my eyes to subjects I'd never considered and widened my knowledge on those I already loved. In format, 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 bed.
Do read the How this book works pages before you start to use the book - you'll get much more out of it, because this book doesn't follow the traditional method of having sections which deal with particular subjects such as Earth, Space or Reptiles. The book is a series of alphabetical pages, and I've just opened the book at random. Sickness comes after Shipping and before Sight, but let's have a look at sickness. We get a brief description of what germs are, the defences which the body provides, where you're likely to find the germs in bulk and how good bacteria helps. There are a couple of box outs, one of which purports to tell us about avoiding sickness, but actually shows how we can avoid spreading germs to others. The other gives us pages which are connected: we're directed to pages for body cells, the human body, medicine, microscopic life, skin and taste. Some of those pages refer you back to the Sickness page, so you're not going to go round for ever!
If you are looking for information on a broad area of interest, pages have a coloured line at the top and the bottom which helps you to search for something which might interest you. Nature has green lines, the human body, red and arts are yellow. It's an ingenious and simple system which helps kids to think about finding information from books - and that's an essential life skill.
Interspersed with the alphabetical pages are ones entitled The Story of... The Story of Homes takes you from early homes such as caves through to what future homes might look like. These pages stand on their own and I thought it was something of a missed opportunity that they didn't link back into the alphabetical pages, but that's me being very picky.
The reference section supplies a useful collection of lists, such as Artists and Writers. No list is longer than a page, so they're obviously not exhaustive, but they go back into history and tap into what interests children today. I found some very useful entries in this section such as the lists of Kings and Queens of England and Britain and Prime Ministers as well as the basics of religions and there's a useful world map. The glossary explains words used throughout the text which might not be familiar and I was impressed by the index, which works well. Not all of them do!
It's a Dorling Kindersley book so production values are high. This is a substantial hardback which will stand a lot of use - and it has its own, equally substantial slip case to provide some extra protection. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
Slightly younger children will get a lot out of My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things by DK.
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You can read more book reviews or buy DK Children's Encyclopedia by DK at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more reviews or buy DK Children's Encyclopedia by DK from Amazon.com
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