The New Kids' Question and Answer Book

Terri Spanjer is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

Intriguing, beautiful photos, clever illustrations, and hilarious
cartoons enhance straightforward responses to about 100 questions on
nature, science, and the environment. Most answers require Grade 3 or 4
reading skill, but the nearly 50 percent visual content will delight
younger children, with parent, teacher, or sibling reading to them.
Although some questions appear trivial (“How much wood can a woodchuck
chuck?”), the answers (in this case, “none,” explaining a
“woodchuck” is a “groundhog”) are anything but. “Why can’t I
fly like a bird?” The five-part answer—Lighten up; redesign your
body; reinforce your bones; grow feathers and muscles; pump some
iron—will inspire new appreciation of our feathered friends. “Why
aren’t forests filled with dead wood?” offers Termite Treats and
Tunneling Beatles as examples of nature’s composters. “What is the
ozone layer?” leads to “Can we fix the hole in the ozone layer?”

The Wacky Wildlife Quiz has illustrations as funny as the
multiple-choice answers: A startled kangaroo will (a) cry, (b) cough,
(c) burst into song; when penguins moult, they’re not heavy enough to
dive for food, so they (a) pull themselves down along seaweed stems, (b)
swallow pebbles to add weight, (c) visit the nearest dive-in restaurant.

This book uses a colorful, entertaining format that makes a wealth of
information highly palatable. It will give children a proprietary sense
of the world around them. Highly recommended.