By Amy Shields
The fat, friendly answer book for the child who asks a hundred whys a day, with a big National Geographic photo on every page.
This is the book for the child who never stops asking. Why is the sky blue? Why do I have to take a bath? Why do cats purr? Why does bread have holes in it? It rounds up the everyday questions your child actually asks and answers each one in a sentence or two, plain and true, next to a great big National Geographic photo. It's sorted into friendly chapters, all about you, all about animals, food and how things go, everyday life, so a child can flip to whatever they're chewing on this week. There are lift-and-look games and little activities tucked in too. It's built to graze, not to read straight through, which is exactly how a curious child uses it.
For the child in the endless why phase, this hands you the answers you keep fumbling for at bedtime, and it hands your child the feeling that their questions are good ones worth a real reply. The answers are short enough for a not-yet-reader to sit through and true enough that you're not making anything up. And because it's a browse-anywhere book, it fits a wandering little mind that wants the sky one minute and why we hiccup the next. It's the first rung of a whole National Geographic shelf, so if this one gets loved to pieces there are more waiting.