Juvenile Nonfiction

From a giant crane that can lift 11 blue whales to a space probe that's traveled more than 10 million miles (and counting), these are the world’s biggest, fastest, and most powerful vehicles!

What's the speediest sportscar? The sneakiest spy plane? And . . . the fastest sofa? From the smallest sub and deepest diver to the largest jumbo jet and most powerful rocket, these mega machines are record setters! With lively photos on every spread, and pages filled with fun facts about haulers, gliders, monster trucks, and more, this collection of extreme vehicles will delight techno-loving kids! 

Reissue of previous edition in a smaller format.

Published in association with Imperial War Museums, The Story of the Second World War for Children sensitively teaches kids about history’s deadliest conflict.

Packed with photographs, maps, and detailed cross-sections of famous tanks, aircraft, submarines, and warships, this fascinating exploration of the Second World War outlines key battles and shows how the conflict affected people across the world—not just the soldiers fighting on land, at sea, and in the air, but also the children evacuated to the countryside, bombed-out city dwellers, and civilians working in munitions factories. 

Bite-sized feature boxes throughout highlight subjects of particular interest to youngsters, including life inside a U-boat; spy and resistance equipment; a wartime recipe; and the trials of surviving a Russian winter as a soldier.

Which was the fastest, the biggest, the deadliest? Check out the greatest record breakers in history: the dinosaurs!

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for millions of years—and they still rule the record books! That's because they had to be extreme to survive in those prehistoric days. So meet the creatures that have never been equaled: 

• Edmontonia, the spikiest dinosaur
• Laellynasaura, with the longest tail ever
• Therizinosaurus, a super slasher with killer claws
• Fruitadens, the smallest plant eater
• And many more

Discover a sky-full of stories from around the world.

For thousands of years, every culture on earth has gazed up at the heavens in wonder and found pictures hidden amid the stars. Combining the rich myths and legends woven across the night sky with simple scientific facts, this vividly illustrated collection brings these incredible tales to life. Find out about Orion with his hunting dogs and belt of three bright stars; Selene, the bewitching goddess of the moon, who fell in love with a mortal; the four brave hunters who endlessly pursue a great bear across the sky; Draco the dragon, warrior of Titans; and other stories from ancient Greece, Egypt, Ethiopia, Scandinavia, Native America, and around the world.

Start coding now! With this step-by-step guide even total beginners can learn the programming languages Scratch and Python to create games, animations, utilities, and more.

Want to make cool apps and games, but don’t know where to begin? This book takes the complexity out of coding. It starts with the basics, taking you through the building blocks of code with Scratch, the simple and colorful visual language that’s perfect for newcomers. 

Once you can make your own games and projects in Scratch, move on to Python, a slightly more advanced language that offers more flexibility and control. Easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions guide you through creating a dancing cat, virtual puppet, word puzzle, drum machine, and space shooter game. Each project teaches essential skills, so you’ll learn as you create.

It’s unbelievable! Explore some of the weirdest, wildest places on Earth through the pages of this fascinating book.

Get ready to visit the world’s strangest and most surprising places! From animal islands filled with deadly snakes to terrifying towns and decaying buildings, these natural features and man-made structures will blow your mind. Journey to a giant blue hole in Belize that’s filled with toxic gases and sea-creature skeletons, a lake in Tanzania that runs red, a town so overrun with spiders its residents are forced to eat them, and a vast 226-foot-wide crater that is always on fire. You won’t believe your eyes!

The strange places include:

• Terrifying terrains: Deadmen Valley, Canada
• Spine-tingling towns: Chernobyl, Ukraine and Miyake Village, Japan (the “toxic terror”)
• Weird Water: Devil’s Kettle, US and and Blood Falls, Antarctica
• Beastly abodes: Snake Island, Brazil
• Fright sites: the Church of Bones, Czech Republic

Explore the beautiful sundecks, marvel at the luxurious design and relive the tragic sinking of the world's most famous ship with The Story of the Titanic for Children.

Filled with amazing facts and details giving insights into the 'unsinkable' ship, The Story of the Titanic for Children will satisfy even the most curious minds.

Over one hundred years on, the captivating story of the Titanic has lost none of its appeal. This stunning book explores real-life stories and little known facts that will absorb young readers. Beautiful images and bite-sized information bring the Titanic to life, from its construction to the victims and survivors after its tragic sinking. Filled with amazing facts and details giving insights into the 'unsinkable' ship,

Topics include: building, loading, and manning the ship; first, second and third class facilities; rescuing the survivors; arrival in New York, and more.

Go on a puzzle adventure with the masterful Sherlock Holmes. Step into the world of the famous sleuth and help him with his detective work by cracking the 38 captivating puzzles, codes, riddles and other mind-boggling quizzes.

Children love mysteries, and this set of intriguing, brain-busting logic and number puzzles from the world of Sherlock Holmes is designed to inspire curious young minds. As well as fun puzzles, it is full of stunning graphics and illustrations that spark the imagination.

Harnesses Minecraft's powerful potential for learning - this book is the perfect way to combine play with education.

Simple-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for constructing a Minecraft theme park, including a bouncy castle, water ride, haunted house, ferris wheel, roller coaster and animal park. Read about STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) topics in the real world, then put your learning to use within the game, discovering the differences between real life and the Minecraft world.

Using core STEM principles, this book will take you through the process of designing and constructing your own Minecraft theme park - from calculating area when building your rides and understanding the different properties of the materials available to you, to learning how gravity and friction affect the speed of your roller coaster. At the end of the book you will have created one amazing theme park, complete with multiple attractions, ticket booths and lighting.

Played by more than 140 million monthly users, Minecraft is arguably the world's greatest and most influential online game, giving aspiring master builders the opportunity to create structures that push the limits of their imagination..

DIY Survival Manual: Natural Disasters has the answers to help you prepare for, survive and endure any major natural disaster. Packed with easy to read step-by-step instructions, top tips and real-life survivor accounts. Myth-busting boxes explain the science behind the disasters and common misconceptions held. Discover how each natural disaster is formed and how to always be prepared for every likely scenario.

Can you stay calm in the midst of an avalanche? Do you know what to do when a tornado warning sounds? How can you identify different types of wildfire? Take the tests and on-the-spot quizzes to find out whether you are a true survivor.

Find your own unique style with this combination of beauty guide and scrapbook!

From body-balancing yoga moves to simple manicures, My Style & Me is the perfect introduction to health and beauty topics for teens and tweens—and an inspirational guide to creating their own individual look. Featuring makeup techniques, fun projects, fashion forecasts, and even nutritional advice, it encourages kids to document their style progress and discover what works best for them. Young fashionistas get to design their own outfits, create their own jewelry, and learn what makeup suits their skin tone, how to wear a particular trend, how to choose a hairstyle for their face shape, and more! Meanwhile, on the colorful pages, they can record their “look of the month,” jot down the best products they’ve tested, doodle pictures of fave accessories, and build a personal style profile.

From ancient heroes like the rebel slave Spartacus to modern-day dissenters who defied the odds, Stand Up, Stand Out! is the ultimate guide to inspiring tales of human passion and courage.

Meet 25 of the most inspiring humans of all time! These rebels stood up for what they believed in, spoke out against injustice, and overcame impossible obstacles. From world leaders such as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela to unsung heroes like Irena Sendler (who smuggled 2,500 children out of the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II) and Juliane Koepcke (who survived an airplane crash at aged 17, followed by nine days in the Amazon rainforest), this book is filled with incredible stories of passion and endurance. It also offers encouraging suggestions on how to make your own stand when you see unfairness.

Meet these heroes!

• Boudicca, the Celtic Queen who battled the invading Romans
• Galileo Galilei, the star scientist whose theories upset the Catholic Church
• Mary Seacole, the Jamaican nurse who fought against racism to treat soldiers during the Crimean War
• Martin Luther King, Jr., winner of the Nobel Peace Prize who protested segregation and inequality
• Muhammad Ali, the boxer who followed his conscience and refused to join the military
• Cory Aquino, who stood against corruption in the Philippines . . . even after her husband’s assassination
• Malcolm Michaels Jr. / Marsha P. Johnson, the transgender icon and LGBTQ activist
• And more!

This activity-packed book will turn kids’ world inside out . . . and right side round!

This isn’t a “book”—it’s a KOOB. That’s because, thanks to a die-cut hole that goes through the cover and the first half, The Inside-Out Book lets kids start in the middle and go from the INSIDE OUT. Children will delight in being subversive as they get to do all the things that usually are forbidden: pull the book apart and cut, fold, draw, paste, and write on the pages. They’ll have hours of fun!

Don’t just read about rebels—with this journal, you can chart your own life and become the hero YOU want to be!

Time for you to stand out! Find your inner hero with this gloriously illustrated journal, featuring quotes, stories, and advice from 25 legendary figures from sports, science, popular culture, and politics. Filled with inspiration and activities, Take a Stand offers exciting prompts and fill-ins to get you journaling, sketching, and reimagining your own life. Find out how heroes like Anne Frank, Stephen Hawking, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Maya Angelou might have handled everyday challenges like peer pressure, bullying, status anxiety, and more. This fantastic keepsake is empowering!

Unleash the beasts with the magic of AR!

Meet some of the most ferocious animals on earth—from the safety of your own home! Just open the app on your smartphone or tablet and digital magic will bring 11 creatures right into your room, including a life-size great white shark, lion, rattlesnake, and grizzly bear. Profiles of each beast give you plenty of information, including how it hunts, what weapons and tactics it uses to defeat its prey, and where it lives. Plus, you can click on the app’s NEW iExplore feature window to access complementary educational content, featuring facts, stats, quizzes, and much more.

This will work with the following devices:

• Apple devices running iOS 8 and above, including: the iPhone 5s and above, the iPad 4 and above, iPod Touch 6th Gen. or above.
• Android devices with both forward- and backward-facing cameras using Android 4.0 and above, and ARMv7 NEON processors.

INTEL-based devices are not officially supported.

Fierce fashionistas—let your imagination run riot with this ultimate activity book!

Are you a style queen? Then this activity book will get your creative juices flowing! Go wild as you design an outfit for every season, develop your own perfume, hold a fashion show, follow a maze to find a lovely handbag, and dress up paper dolls. More than 150 stickers, pretty pullout pages, a gatefold, and puzzles will inspire you to snip, color, and create.