Lots of really great books are coming out for kids these days - non-fiction books packed full of ideas, facts and things to do. I love the spate of old annuals that are being re-published, but there are some new books aimed at todays kids too.

Everything You Need to Know from Your Backyard to the Galaxies by Simon Eliot, published by Four Winds Press in 2005 and republished in 2007, distributed by Allen and Unwin. By same author as Everything You Need to Know About the World by Simon Eliot Check out the authors website.

In any case - what I want to say is - great book, fun and alive with facts and information totally suited to grotty little curious kids - (hey that sounds like my kids…). There are jokes, stuff about the origin of words, future predictions, 75 things about insects that your teacher won’t know, pressing questions for kids like … ‘how to keep a sausage straight when you cook it’, and amazing stuff that ants do… and more and more. Really every page there is something else to find out (and if this is not the same book as the other one then I am pretty sure it is similar and therefore also pretty darn good).

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Hocus Pocus: A Tale of Magnificent Magicians and Their Amazing Feats by Paul Kieve published by Bloomsbury 2007 and distributed in Australia by Allen and Unwin.

A book filled with wonder and magic, tales and adventures - magic tricks to learn as well as mysterious stories and a journey through the history of magic. This book is for kids who are really into magic, and can cope with a fat book full of information - for the curious mind - not a book to flick through rather something that needs to be studied and read through from start to finish.

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Girls’ Empire: An Annual for English speaking Girls all over the world, published by Faber 2007. The Original Dangerous Book for Girls … Unrevised since 1903.

This book is the unchanged version from 1903, and as such is quaint and old fashioned, but like anything old - it all comes around again and this is true for much in this book. Some of it is a hilarious look into girlhood at the beginning at the century - an interesting eye opener for many kids today - how their grandparents/great grandparents lived. But there is lots of fun, entertaining and informative stuff in here for todays girl too. The very first page is titled “How to be strong”, seems quite subversive for 1903! and includes various exercises to build up muscle tone. Next comes a section on friendship titled “Cosy corner chats” and contains advice on how to know if your friend is a true friend and what sort of friendships to avoid and to go after. There are sections on managing pets, making sweets, hygiene, ‘cycling for girls’ (there is a picture of a girl dismounting side ways in order to not expose too much leg or …) but all up cycling is considered to be a very healthy pastime. There are stories about strong women of history such as Florence Nightingale. There are hilarious bits on how to hold a golf club (there is the old fashioned way and the new fangled way) and lots more really entertaining and informative stuff. Great reading.

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