Thursday, April 25, 2024

The Curious book of Lists by Tracey Turner and Caroline Selmes


It tells me on the cover this book contains 263 fun, fascinating and fact-filled lists.  Two hundred and sixty-three is an odd number - I guess their lists just evolved. They sure are random!

I do enjoy books like this that are filled with trivia but my Teacher-Librarian brain would have liked the list to be arranged in some sort of order. On any one page there is an assortment of unrelated lists. Here are a few examples. 

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; Cures for Hiccups; Three really big spiders; African countries; and Ancient Olympic sports.

Nobel Prize winners; Weird waterfalls; deadly snakes; Landlocked countries; and Very small cars.

Rulers with unflattering nicknames (Ivaylo the Cabbage from Bulgaria); Seven facts about cockroaches; Popular cat breeds; and Types of bears.

Luckily this book does have an index so if you have a favourite topic, you might find it on the list or you could use the index as a serendipitous way to explore this book.

Among the topics in the index that I would like to explore further I see:

  • Animal astronauts
  • Biggest gem stones
  • Odd book titles
  • Cheeses
  • The meaning of flowers
  • Fungai
  • Hot air balloons
  • Megacities
  • Interesting animal names
  • Sayings from around the world
  • Superstitions
I borrowed this 2019 book from a library, so I am sorry to report that it is now out of print! If you can find it in your school or local library I think children who enjoy quirky facts would find this book a very absorbing one to read or dip into.

 Publisher blurb: Do you want to know about eight of the world’s deadliest snakes, forty-nine countries without a coastline and five fearless female warriors? Then look no further because The Curious Book of Lists by Tracey Turner is absolutely bursting with eye-popping and informative lists from around the world, guaranteed to keep you entertained and increase your general knowledge at the same time! Discover Ancient Greek monsters, presidential pets, dizzying mountain peaks, super-fast animals … and what not to mention at a donkey’s house.

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