Author & Illustrators
The Speed of Light is a brightly coloured introduction to Einstein’s theory of relativity. It begins with information about who Albert Einstein was and more basic information about how light travels before addressing more complex information about the colour of stars and whether time passes differently if you are moving faster.
Each section of the book contains just enough information to explain without having an overwhelming amount of text on the page, but it doesn’t over-simplify the science. Wenjia Tang’s illustrations are eye-catching and really useful in supporting the real-life examples that are used to explain much of the science.
This is a great introduction for primary school children to some really complex scientific theory, and young readers will certainly feel empowered by that. A useful book to use alongside the light science topic. I think it will inspire a lot of children to investigate some of the theories further!
Wish Upon a Star gives the reader a vibrantly illustrated insight into our galaxy and beyond. The book looks at stars from a scientific, historical and cultural perspective, allowing the reader to understand the importance of stars across all aspects of our lives on Earth.
Each double-page spread has a different focus and is beautifully illustrated, with short, age-appropriate captions which support the reader in building their vocabulary around the subject.
The early pages of the book have a scientific focus, with pages which look at ‘Galaxies’ and ‘When a Star Dies’. These pages balance easy-to-read insights with some useful topic vocabulary. The book tends to keep the information given fairly brief, giving opportunity for further investigation and research if needed.
The latter pages of the book consider how stars are central to the traditional tales across many different cultures, with insight into Chinese, Maori and the Anishinaabek communities, amongst others.
It is ideal as a core text for topic work around the Earth and Space and would be perfect for Key Stage Two classrooms.
‘Into The Volcano’ is an engaging and informative text full of interesting facts for a Key Stage 2 audience. The book supports the National Curriculum objective of understanding the processes that give rise to key physical features of the world – it describes, in a way that the reader will be able to understand, whilst still using ambitious vocabulary, how and where volcanoes are formed, the different types of volcanoes, as well as discussing their positive and negative effects.
We enjoyed the inclusion of myths and legends inspired by real-life volcanoes, details about books and films that feature volcanoes (both real-life and fictional ones); and stories of artists who have chosen volcanoes as their subject.
Throughout the book, there are fascinating ‘Did you know?’ snippets – for example, did you know that scientists believe that the ‘scream heard piercing through nature’ which inspired Edvard Munch’s world-famous painting ‘The Scream’ was in fact the effects of Krakatau exploding?
This volcano-themed children’s book is a fascinating read from start to finish.
From the moment you touch the wonderfully textured cover of ‘Under Your Feet’, you realise that you are on a sensory journey of discovery.
The book, created in conjunction with The Royal Horticultural Society, gives children the chance to really ‘dig deep’ into life under the soil. Dr Jackie Stroud’s comprehensive knowledge of the subject matter (she has a twitter handle worth following – @wormscience) gives the book the level of detail and understanding without overwhelming younger readers. It is clear that she has a passion for soil which shines through every lovingly researched page.
When you open the book, each double-page spread details a different aspect of soil and our relationship with it; from information on why we need soil to looking at soil around the world (there’s even a couple of pages about soil in outer space!). The information is written in a very accessible style, with small captions dotted around each page and a useful glossary at the back.
The illustrations make this book particularly engaging. As you can imagine, a book about soil will have a colour palette of browns, greens and oranges. The illustrator, Wenjia Tang, has used pencil drawings, combined with photographs to create gorgeous images that give the reader a sense of what the world under our feet truly feels like.
For those children who enjoy getting their hands dirty, there are ideas for practical activities, such as making a ‘microbe meal’ in a sock! It is a great resource and would be perfect for accompanying geographical or environmental topics, as well as forest school in KS1 or lower KS2.
review
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?
yes
Curriculum links (if relevant)
Curriculum links (if relevant)
Any other comments
Any other comments