One Million Things: A Visual Encyclopedia [Hardcover]

Peter Chrisp (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: One Million Things

Recipient of the International Reading Association's (IRA) 2010 Young Adults' Choices list.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5 Up—When you're a kid, you think that bigger is better. Machines, buildings, ice-cream cones—they're all better with an increase in dimensions. DK has put together a visual encyclopedia that runs with the concept of cramming a million bits of information into one volume. The book is not 300 pages of arbitrary fact. There is an organization to the madness. Arranged in sections from nature to nutrition, the human body to technology, people and places to art and culture, the breadth of subject matter is impressive. Vital to the operation are the photographs. This may be the single largest collection of pictures kids have ever seen in one place, and each page shows as much as it tells. Readers can open it up, discover something new, and enjoy. A quality selection for most collections.—Travis Jonker, Dorr Elementary School, Holland, MI
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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN (June 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756638437
• ISBN-13: 978-0756638436
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 10.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Children's Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book that promotes learning, December 1, 2008

By 

F. Portell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Million Things: A Visual Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

This is a great book that is great for browsing and learning. It is not a comprehensive encyclopedia, but I highly recommend it even if you have other encyclopedia books. The cover has a mirror-like surface that compels children to want to read it and learn. Great illustrations and good content. I like almost everything that I've seen from DK publishing. We use it for homeschooling but adults will also enjoy browsing it too.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books for Kids I've Seen, August 3, 2009

By 

Thomas E. Tweedel (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Million Things: A Visual Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

I picked this book up the other day at the bookstore and knew within a few minutes it was a keeper. It covers an amazing amount of subjects and information given that its one single book chock full of pictures.

The premise of the book is that it touches lightly on a wide variety of facts. Its not an authoritative source by any means. It tells you what something is and gives the highlights in a paragraph or less. Supplementing these brief descriptions are its amazing collection of pictures to illustrate the topic.
The pictures are not stock illustrations or photographs of the subject, they tend to be on the unique side and are referential to the written material. For example when talking about machines they have a picture of some needlessly complex strange multi-stage apple slicing machine like you might find on a cartoon (where one part moves another, then another and another..). Seems odd but the different parts are used to illustrate different mechanical concepts (cogs, pulleys, cables, levers etc). A lot of the photos take that route, kind of non-standard, requiring a little thinking and analysis (and humor) but getting the job done more than a standard picture.

The other thing that the photos do is they keep the attention of the audience. You find yourself not just glancing at the photo but studying the complexity and texture they put into it. With kids this is wonderful. The photo keeps their attention and focus on the subject long enough to get through the description and then move onto the next thing.

The layout and level of content of the book is good for a wide variety of ages. For younger children the photos keep their attention while you read about the item. Their sponge like memory absorbing some of the facts.
For reading age children there is a lot of information in digest sized bits. Kind of along the lines of memorizing trivia. The photos make them wonder "what is that".

For older kids it's a good starting point. You get enough info to have an idea about the subject to start looking elsewhere.

For adults looking to stuff their brain with interesting trivia it works too. Though you may need to dig a bit deeper. Reading this book to my kids has stimulated a lot of related questions from them. Some of which I didn't have answers for.

The book is fairly well organized and presented. It has around a dozen or so major topics (Science, History, The body, Arts etc). Each of these major topics had around a dozen or so entries. Each entry spans two pages with a dozen plus photos and topics.

For example the major top of the Body is broken down into the skeleton, the digestive system, muscles etc. For the skeletal system they have a collage of skeletal X-rays/MRI type shots that make up a full skeleton. They cover each of the major bone types (hip, femur, knee) with a few sentences about how it's constructed and is function. Then they have random facts attached to a few bones.
There is an index in the back for finding things more quickly. The quality of the printing and binding is great.

It has been one of the best "bedtime" books I've gotten. Depending on the questions you can go through one or two topics in a setting and they have high revisit value. I paid list price at the store and the book was well worth it. For the price Amazon charges I might get a few for gifts.

So to summarize

Pros
Great layout, pictures, information, everything..
Maintains interest and focus across several age levels.

Cons
None

Conclusion
Add this to your library and you will not be disappointed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating!, December 30, 2008

By 

grneyedteacher - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Million Things: A Visual Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

I gave this book to my 10 year old nephew for Christmas. After he opened it, he kept looking and looking at it saying "this is really cool." The illustrations are beautiful, and the book has a little of every topic from science to music to art and history. This book will be a reference for him through at least middle school. I highly recommend it to anyone buying for children 8 years and up.