Focus On: Children's Non-Fiction!

Here are our children's non-fiction picks for autumn/winter 2024! Have a browse through to help focus your gift buying for this season, and beyond!

Hamza's Wild World (Hamza Yassin & Louise Forshaw)

The perfect gift for animal fans! Go on a wild adventure into the animal kingdom with naturalist, wildlife cameraman and winner of Strictly Come Dancing, Hamza Yassin. Hamza's Wild World brings you everything you will ever need to know about the animal kingdom in this fun, fascinating guide packed with hundreds of funny, smelly, awesome, scary, revolting, weird, cute, clever and AMAZING facts, with black and white line illustrations, photos and infographics throughout! Did you know that kestrels can see mouse wee tracks on the ground, that dolphin mums sing lullabies or that wombats have cube-shaped poo? Do you want to imagine what it’s like to meet a cheetah, get close to a polar bear or go to sleep with an otter? Then this book is for you!

Talk Like an Egyptian (Tegen Evans & Nina Chakrabarti)

In this fun and fascinating activity book from the British Museum, you can learn all about life in ancient Egypt - from mummies, pets and Tutankhamun's tomb, to the spells, nicknames and funny messages that have been discovered - before using the sturdy card stencils and dictionary to create secret messages! Learn to write your name in hieroglyphs, measure your height in Egyptian hands and even write a spooky spell! With a dazzling gold-foil cover, and beautiful colour illustrations on every page by award-winning Nina Chakrabarti, this is the perfect gift for the budding Egyptologist in your life! Created with world-leading hieroglyphics experts from the British Museum.

The Cosmic Diary of a Future Space Explorer (Tim Peake & Max Rambaldi)

A real-life astronaut is here to tell you what it's REALLY like to blast off into space - and everywhere we might travel in the future! Could we build a colony on Mars? Will we ever land on Venus? Can we play football on the Moon?

Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to pull on your spacesuit and join your guide, real astronaut Tim Peake (and a host of expert STEM characters), in this fascinating adventure through space, time and the diary of one truly incredible space adventure. With help from some robot adventurers, you'll discover space missions of the past and present, and where we might travel in the future . .

First Big Book of How (Sally Symes, Saranne Taylor & Kate Slater)

How do scientists see into space? How do polar bears keep warm? How do keys open locks? How do fireworks explode? Featuring more than 150 compelling questions about space, Earth, machines, buildings, animals and the human body, this magnificent book by the author-and-illustrator team behind the bestselling First Big Book of Why provides answers for every inquisitive child. And these are answers you can trust, as they have all been thoroughly fact-checked and reviewed by subject experts, who are proudly profiled in the book. By encouraging children to question how things are happening in the world around them, First Big Book of How supports STEAM learning and nurtures curious minds.

The warm and playful text is accompanied by stunning real-life photography as well as gorgeous original illustrations and helpful, friendly diagrams. This book is the ultimate gift for kids who need to know everything – and now!

Cluedle: The Case of Rudolph's Revenge (Hartigan Browne)

Can you work out Cluedunnit at Christmas? A perfect gift or stocking filler for mystery fans, Cluedle - The Case of Rudolph's Revenge is a fantastic festive puzzle book for code-cracking families and skilful young super sleuths. Team up with world famous private investigator Hartigan Browne and crack the curious case by solving 80 fun brain-busting Christmas puzzles. Packed full of codes to crack, evidence to evaluate, clues to unravel and maps to navigate, Cluedle - The Case of Rudolph's Revenge is puzzling fun for the whole family.

Let Me Tell You a Joke (Sean Hegarty & Jim Field)

Packed with 50 hilarious jokes by Northern Irish stand-up comedian Sean Hegarty, and brilliantly illustrated in colour by Jim Field, this riotously funny first joke book is the perfect gift for budding comedians to read alone or share with friends. With free Stories Aloud audio including advice from Sean on how to deliver the perfect joke

Little People, BIG DREAMS Advent Calendar (Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara)

Unwrap some Christmas magic with this advent calendar of 24 mini books from the iconic Little People, BIG DREAMS series. Inside each envelope, children will find stories about inspirational people from across the world, from ground-breaking musician Elton John and eco hero Steve Irwin, to freedom-fighter Martin Luther King and visionary artist Frida Kahlo. Discover the incredible lives of these bold little dreamers: Charles Dickens, Dolly Parton, Amelia Earhart, Aretha Franklin, Martin Luther King, Stephen Hawking, Jane Austen, David Bowie, Albert Einstein, Elton John, Ernest Shackleton, Malala Yousafzai, Taylor Swift, Frida Kahlo, Astrid Lindgren, Muhammad Ali, Jane Goodall, Lewis Hamilton, Neil Armstrong, Steve Irwin, Anna Pavlova, Zaha Hadid, Marie Curie, and Nelson Mandela.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.