Literacy activities: Cosmic brains, artists and atlases

In bookshops, if I think I’ve found a non-fiction text of interest, I always turn to the middle and read. If it grabs me, I’m in! One of the great things about non-fiction is that we can start where we want to. In this respect, children will discover that reading non-fiction allows them to break some of the ‘normal’ conventions of reading a book. This World Book Day, while the children will undoubtedly want to get their noses stuck into their favourite fiction books, play on their natural inquisitiveness and promote non-fiction books, too. There are plenty of great examples currently on the market. For example:

• See inside Your Head by Alex Frith and Colin King (Usborne, £8.99 HB) – an interactive lift-the-flap book with quirky ‘lemming’ style characters that delves inside the remarkable goings-on of the human brain.

• The Pop-Up, Pull-Out Picture Atlas (DK, £14.99 HB) – a world atlas extravaganza with holographic cover, 3D globe and fun fact pull-outs to help inspire wannabe globe trotters.