History FACTopia!

This one is just plain fun. It fed the history major/teacher/nerd part of me. Fun, quirky facts about, well, lots of stuff. It's designed not to be read straight through as the reader follows whatever thread grabs their interest, meaning you'll be able to spend some time going where your whims take you. From pirates to why the Romans, no lie, taxed the pee collected from public toilets to things like a 2000 year old battery found in a clay jar in Iraq. One of my favorites is the noted resemblance of the Vallhund, thought to originally be bred by Vikings, to a dog that looks like a cross between a wolf and a corgi. Yeah, sorta. It's fully illustrated and the illustrations are just as much fun as the words. Hard to pick a favorite but the one of a hunter on skis about to shoot his prey while ahead of him, unnoticed, a tree looms. I could just see the next imaginary panel, the stereotypical cartoon splat against a tree.

I did know quite a bit of the info, go figure, but still lots to take in. Some funny, some interesting, but all fact checked by multiple Britannica writers. If you have any interest in history, either trivial or serious, you will want to get your hands on this book when it comes out about id-September. And, hey, since I've groused about the feral rabbits that so annoy Daisy, did you know Napoleon was once attacked by a mob of bunnies....and lost. And, hey, San Fran folks, I didn't know much of your city was built atop ships abandoned by gold rushers way back when. SO much more, ranging from castles and witches to vampires and mummies and more.There's a glossary and index at the end, not to mention extensive list of online sites to check out more fun facts.

Thanks #NetGalley and #BritannicaBooks - #WhatOnEarth for providing me with such an entertaining, informative peek. I fully enjoyed meandering about wherever my whim took me. Gives new meaning to getting lost in a book.

📜 I devoured books like this when I was younger! I love learning a variety of new things and reading books like this satisfied my hunger for knowledge.

📜 This book is filled with various tidbits of info from ancient to recent history. Some pages have tons of info on them, and others address just one or two subjects.

📜 I love that the book has a choose-your-own-adventure vibe. A path weaves its way through the story – literally a visual path – and you can choose to stay on the current historical path, or you can veer off and read about something different. You can see what I mean on my second to last slide – the page shown discusses warriors and soldiers, but if you look at the bottom left on the left page you will see there is an option to take a different path that will discuss armor instead.

📜 There is a huge glossary in the back matter, which I feel is critical in books like this. There is also an index! If your kiddo wants to know about Pompeii, ketchup, siege towers, or King Tutankhamun - and any number of other subjects - they’ll know exactly what page to turn to!

📜 Kids are gonna love this book! It would be great for any classroom or home library.

Thank you @NetGalley and Britannica Books / What on Earth for an eARC of this book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Towler and the Britannica Group have created a page-turning Factopia kids in schools will run to the library to checkout! This fast paced read will interest even the reluctanct reader. With short yet informative facts that connect dots all around the world. This page turner, will have readers moving back and forth like a choose your own adventure.

Children will want this as their next book and refer back to it often with some really interesting topics from long ago to now.

This ebook version is a bit odd as it doesn't quite read or flow smoothly but I can tell the book will be a hit.

This is a very interesting book. It contains a vast array of fascinating and amusing facts that are arranged in a fashion I haven't seen before. Instead of being divided solely into sections, the book arranges facts on some pages by keywords. Fact A might be involve cannonballs. Fact B talks about a human cannonball or stuntwoman. Fact C talks about a different kind of stuntwoman who is also a pilot. Fact D is about a pilot in China. Fact E is a compass created in China.

This allows for a wider variety of facts that don't necessarily have other facts that can be arranged into the same category.

The only problem with this sort of clever arrangement is that it can sometimes cause the facts to become a bit muddled if one reads them too quickly in a row.

The book also has a main path and then choose-your-own-adventure-style side paths that are like, "if you want to skip reading more about sports and read about pirates instead, turn to page 22." This doesn't work terribly well in the PDF, but I think it will be really fun in the print copy.

It is illustrated with a mashup of photographs and cute/funny drawings that work well with the weird history facts theme of the book.

I will be reading this with my 9-year-old who is becoming very interested in history (and has always been very interested in facts).

*Thanks to NetGalley and Britannica Books for providing an early copy for review.

Imagine the fun your tween will have with the newest Factopia book! The topics flow from page to page like a puzzle or maze - you choose which "leads" to follow. As I was reading the book I could see a middle school age child devouring the book partly due to the weird and sometimes gross facts (rats, toilets, sweaty socks to cure a sore throat, etc.).

Not only is the topic great for middle schoolers, but the format (using the terms fast forward and rewind) would be attractive to them as well. Add in the combination of photos and cartoon-like drawings will keep the reader engaged and you have a winning book combination. Because of it's an easy book to pick up and read for 10-15 minutes and step away or nod off without worrying about where you left off.