Listified! by Andrew Pettie. Illus. by Andres Lozano

Where to begin! From the very busy endpapers to the extensive list of useful words a.k.a. glossary, to the detailed index as well as the thorough list of sources, this book is one massive read. Those children (and indeed adults!) who love lists of facts will be in book paradise with Listified! Fortunately, the book begins with a traditional list of contents with the following chapter headings: Space, Nature, Dinosaur Times, Animals, The Body, Being Human, Inventions and Game Changers. The author, Andrew Pettie, then follows with a personal and humorous message, ‘Five great things about reading this book’. Each chapter has a list of things you will encounter in the chapter and each list is presented on a single or double page spread in well-spaced segments with different coloured pages and graphic style images. The use of asterisks, clearly sectioned off at the bottom of the page, provide further explanation of important points. In The Body chapter there is a scale of the ten heaviest human organs with a comparison e.g. did you know the average weight of the eye is 7.5gms which is compared to a pencil or that the brain weighs approximately the same as a steam iron? In the Being Human chapter, we find out that Australia is the sixth largest country by surface area at 7.7 million sq kms and that Vatican City is the smallest at 0.4 sq kms. 

This compendium would make an excellent gift for the fact enthusiast or a great place to find questions for a quiz night, classroom question of the day or online family quizzes which have taken off in COVID-19 times. An enjoyable book to browse and go back to time and time again.

Themes: World information, Lists, Facts.

Kathryn Beilby