Everything Under the Sun began as a podcast; children would send in their questions and each week, Molly Oldfield, with the help of experts, would choose a few of them to answer. That podcast has now evolved into this epic collection of questions and answers about anything and everything.
Children love to ask questions about the world; who, why, what, where, when, how, can and so on. Having spent many years in a primary school classroom, I am no stranger to having my knowledge tested by curious children and have often used the phrase, ‘that would be really interesting to find out.’ Now I have the most awesome of non-fiction books to hand that will more than satisfy the appetite of curious young minds.
Featuring vibrant artwork by twelve artists, Everything Under the Sun is a delicious smorgasbord of rich and interesting information and each page will spark conversations, more questions and further research. In total, three-hundred-and-sixty-six questions are answered, one for every day of the year, including leap years. I must confess, I haven’t read every single one of these, why would I when I can enjoy the book over the course of an entire year. What I have done is to dip in and out at various points and from what I have seen and read the book really is superb.
Questions range from the serious to the light-hearted to the funny and cover all manner of topics - quite literally everything under the sun. You’ll be hard pressed to find a subject matter of interest to children that isn’t included. Professors, doctors, experts in their fields, famous faces, and of course, Molly, all pass on their knowledge, theories and opinions. Heston Blumenthal discusses why food tastes different when we have a cold, Sir Richard Branson explains why rockets go to space, George the Poet explores homelessness, and two of my favourite children’s authors, Abi Elphinstone and Rob Biddulph, provide thoughts on where ideas come from.
Some books just belong on a child’s bookshelf and this is definitely one of those. With its eye-catching and embossed front cover this is an absolute gem of a book, it even has a fancy gold ribbon page marker. This is a book to treasure and any child who receives it will be very lucky and richly rewarded; I’ve housed it in the ‘very special books’ section of my bookshelf.
I love non-fiction books that develop a curiosity and wonder for the world and Everything Under the Sun is one of the best. A brilliant book for adults to share with children of 5+ and one that children of 7+ will enjoy exploring independently. With thanks to Penguin Random House for the copy I received in exchange for an honest review. Recommended for 5+.
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