Cool Coding by Robert Hansen and Cool Physics by Dr Sarah Hutton both illustrated by Damien Weighill.

When these gorgeous two books arrived there was a scramble as to who would look at them first – me, the boys or my husband! Aimed at older children and interested adults, both books are a fantastic introduction to the areas of science they’re focused on.  My eldest is due to start GCSE Computing Science in September so he has claimed Cool Coding for himself – not before I’d had a read of course! Cool Physics will be a useful addition to the shelf in support of GCSE Science – and may even help me help my son with his Science homework now and then!! A continuation of the Cool Science series from Pavilion Books, Cool Coding and Cool Physics are great reads.

In the digital age, information books have a lot to compete with in terms of accessibility and interest with information being so readily available online. The best non fiction books have to work hard to attract their readers and these books are absolutely right up there with the competition being both user friendly and informative with a great layout.  Even the size is appealing.  The colourful illustrations and diagrams ably support the information being given and help describe the ideas for activities and experiment. Each book is full of fascinating facts – for instance did you know the first ever computer weighed twice as much as a full-grown African Elephant?! Or that Sir Isaac Newton was also warden of the Royal Mint?!

I’m always saying to students in the library that so many books present information in such a friendly way and are so much easier to navigate than the internet as a starting point for research; these books are a great example of this! Both present the information in short paragraphs, accompanied by bullet points or soundbite boxes which convey a wealth of ideas and a comprehensive, easy-to-understand overview of complex subjects.  I would thoroughly recommend both books as great introductions to the topics they’re focused on and to support learning in these areas.  They’re also a great option for children who are don’t want to read fiction and prefer fact books; even the most reluctant reader couldn’t fail to find these books fun!

Thank you to Pavilion for sending me these books to review.