As the name suggests, ‘The Big Book of Knowledge,’is an encyclopedia for children. This four hundred pages’ book has beautiful, colourful illustrations to not only catch your attention but to also help you and your children to understand the hundreds of facts better. The book begins with a demonstration of how to make optimum use of the information provided. The encyclopedia is broadly divided into two sections; the fact-finder section and the question and answer section. The fact-finder section gives information on various topics. These topics are classified into six categories namely, people, animals, plants, universe, earth, and science. The information in these categories is presented in a systematic, easy to understand way, with several beautiful and eye-catching illustrations. The pictures are able to attract the child’s attention and he immediately asks,” What is this?” Or,”Why is it so?”In the question and answer section, information under the six categories is given in question and answer form. Common questions like,” Why is Neptune turquoise?” Or, “Where do rivers start and end?” Or “How do computers remember?” are something which not only make children curious but also adults.
Questioning a child in this way instigates him to think on that topic and also makes him want to know more. Thus, imparting knowledge to children through such question and answer form serves a dual role.An interesting feature of this book is the short quizzes which help you to test how much of the information you have retained. In particular, I found the ‘People’s Section’ very interesting as it not only had amazing facts but also numerous detailed and accurate diagrams. It told me that the human lungs, if opened out and laid flat, would cover an area, the size of a tennis court! The book ends with more key facts and an index with key words arranged alphabetically so as to make it easier for the reader to find what he is looking for.Overall the book is informative, interesting and well presented.