Pokemon: Ultimate Handbook [Paperback]

Cris Silvestri (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Pokemon

Gotta read 'em all!

Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Ash's Pokémon journey has taken him through some incredible regions, and now they're all in one book! This deluxe handbook includes facts & figures for every Pokémon ever. That's over 480 entries--packed with inside info and special tips. It's truly the ultimate guide for every Pokémon fan.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc. (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545078865
• ISBN-13: 978-0545078863
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have!!, September 20, 2008

By 

S. Lipson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pokemon: Ultimate Handbook (Paperback)

My boys, 8 and 9, are really interested in Pokemon, particularly the video games and card collecting. I purchased one "Pocket Pokedex" book for them while on vacation this Summer and it proved to be the most desired and used item since. I actually had to replace the book within 2wks partly d/t to a bad binding and also because it was read for hours a day by both of them. The "Pocket Pokedex" has microscopic print and very little readability-mostly just the hard facts and technical points of each character listed in microscopic graphs. I saw this new version coming out a month ago and figured I'd treat my kids to it. I didn't preview the book, just hoped it would be as well liked as the one they already have. Well, this version absolutely blows away the "Pocket Pokedex"! This book is chock full of all the best details about every Pokemon (inc Darkrai!!)! It has large easy to read print, full color text and pictures of every Pokemon, all their strengths, weaknesses, battle criteria, their character morphing capabilities (including pictures of those), and they are all listed alphabetically for convience! My kids just screamed when I gave them to them and showered me with gratitude. They had no idea there was even a new referrence book available. Any Poke' fan will be thrilled with this outstanding see-all, tell-all, user friendly resource! Purely a grand-slam!

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Even with its faults, it's still a good Pokemon reference book, April 7, 2009

By 

Lesley Aeschliman (Enumclaw, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pokemon: Ultimate Handbook (Paperback)

This book covers all Pokemon except for Shaymin. The book opens with an introductory section explaining how to read and utilize the book. This section explains what the reader will find in each Pokemon entry. This information includes its name, its species, how to pronounce its name, its possible moves, its type (or types), its height, its weight, its region, a description, and what its evolution is (if it has one). In this book, the Pokemon are listed in alphabetical order (except for Darkrai, which gets its own section at the back of the book).

Looking through this book, it feels as if the author threw this together in a hurry. This is especially evident by some of the mistakes I found while reading it. There are two major issues in the book. First, the pictures of Porygon and Porygon 2 are flipped wherever these two Pokemon appear in the book (the picture for Porygon is always mislabeled as Porygon 2, and the picture for Porygon 2 is always mislabeled as Porygon). Another major mistake I found was in the entry for Scyther. For its evolution, it has the pictures in the right order, but the Pokemon were mislabeled (Scyther was labeled as Scizor, and Scizor was labeled as Scyther).

Another major issue I had was the fact that Darkrai was separated out from the rest of the Pokemon for some unknown reason. To top it off, Darkrai is not labeled as being a "Legendary Pokemon," when the rest of the Legendary Pokemon are given this designation in their respective entries. Also, in the "Legendary Lineup" feature at the very back of the book (where each Legendary Pokemon is listed in alphabetical order, and their Pokemon number is included), Darkrai is also excluded.

I did also find some minor mistakes in the book as well. There were three entires where a Pokemon would have one of its possible moves listed twice. This was the case for Dusclops, Machoke, and Quilava. And in the entry for Turtwig, "synthesis" is misspelled as "syntesis." One other gripe I have with this book is that there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for how a Pokemon's possible moves were listed. I wish the possible moves had been listed alphabetically.

But even with these issues, I would still recommend the Pokemon Ultimate Handbook, especially for any Pokemon fans who have not had an opportunity to pick up any previous Pokemon handbooks that have been released. With the Pokemon Ultimate Handbook, you can have information on all of the currently known Pokemon (except for Shaymin) available in one book.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gotta catch 'em ALL!, September 28, 2008

By 

Michael Jandrok (Lockhart, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pokemon: Ultimate Handbook (Paperback)

Allrightythen...first things first. For those parents who might still not be in the know, Pokemon is Nintendo's blockbuster videogame/TV series/movie/book/toy mega-multimedia franchise. Debuting in the mid-90's, Pokemon (short for Pocket Monsters) has become one of the most thoroughly developed and complex alternate-reality worlds in multimedia gaming. Both of my kids (ages 7 and 12) can't get enough Pokemon, so when my son saw this guidebook at his elementary school's book fair, it was a no-brainer purchase.

What you get here is basically a print version of the National Pokedex, a running index of each and every known Pokemon. An online version can be accessed on the official Pokemon website. This book carries more detail than the online version, though, so it's very handy to have. The Pokemon are listed in alphabetical order, and you get a great amount of detail on each character, including possible moves, weights, heights, regions found in, and so forth. All of the listings are accompanied by full-color illustrations and as a bonus you also get the evolution paths for each Pokemon, making for easy cross-reference. Might have been nice to have a master index in the back of the book that gave page listings, but the alphabetical ordering makes it pretty easy to find specific characters without too much trouble.

All I can say is that I can't recommend it enough if you have kids that are into the Pokemon phenomenon. It's way worth the 10-spot IMO.