We love science here at GeekDad and we love the FACTopia books too. So we absolutely fell head over heels for the latest outing in the series, Science FACTopia!
What Is Science FACTopia?
The FACTopia books treat us to a trail of facts. 400 interlinked nibbles of knowledge that follow on from one other throughout the book. Even better, the books have multiple entry points and branching trees of fascinating information. Wherever you open a FACTopia book, you can be sure you’re going to enjoy a fascinating journey.
The books in the series are small format hardbacks aimed at children aged 8 and upwards.
As you might expect, Science FACTopia is devoted to science, with the exhortation for readers to “Follow the Trail of 400 Stemtastic Facts.”
Due to the trail-like nature of the book, it is not broken down into defined subject areas like most science books. The facts on each double-page spread do, however, cohere to a broad theme. Subject areas included are: Wacky Experiments, Blood, Black Holes, Clouds, and Glaciers (I could go on). Throughout the book, there are some “Fact Frenzy” spreads, with a higher density of facts than most pages, that, whilst they still have a link, are not drawn from a unifying topic.
At the back of the book, you’ll find a quiz, an index, a list of sources, and author biographies. I particularly liked the “Sound Like a Scientist” quiz, which invites you to match the types of science with its scientific name: “Oology,” anyone?
Why Read Science FACTopia?
The FACTopia concept is so simple, it can’t fail to work. Concise nuggets of information on a given topic, aimed at young knowledge-hungry readers. No off-putting walls of text, no progression of information; you can just open the book and go. Whilst lots of children’s facts have an “open it and go where you like” approach, I like that the FACTopia books give you a little bit of steer.
It’s like following a wooded path, with wonderful things to see on either side. The bright vibrant colors of the pages and the fun diagrams keep younger readers interested. No fact outstays its welcome but reading a FACTopia book helps you build a bank of knowledge.
Science FACTopia is no exception. Lots of wonderful STEM facts to follow, covering all the major topics in science, whether it be physics, chemistry, or biology, as well as astronomy, engineering, ecology, and technology. If you’re looking to fire a child’s imagination in any of these fields, you could do a lot worse than start with Science FACTopia.
If you would like to pick up a copy of Science FACTopia, you can do so here, in the U.S., and here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
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