Books for Curious Kids

If you have a kid who loves learning, is always asking questions or trying to figure things out – then you know that their voracious need to discover something new is hard to satiate. Today, I’ve put together a list of some books to help you feed the need to learn.

Table of Contents

Thing Explainer

The problem with most information books is that they use big, jargoned, challenging words in their explanations and that can make a curious kid confused. The book, Thing Explainer, aims to change that, looking to explain how things work with everyday, simple language.

Each page of this book is like a set of blueprints, in colour and design, intentionally made to be able to break everything down into little parts to explain in detail about each thing. Some of these are quite elaborate – like the table of elements and the engine of a car.

To be honest though, things are presented just a little too …. simplistic and rather foolishly. For example, your internal organs are presented as “Bags of Stuff Inside You” and then are broken down into parts such as “thinking bag,” “blood pusher,” “yellow water hallway,” and “hole to the outside.” It’s kind of annoying, but if you can get past all the silliness, there is a lot of useful information found in this book.

Giant Squid

This book is totally interesting and unique. Exploring all about the Giant Squid, a deep sea creature, it is actually kind of scary! That eyeball… it’s HUGE! Although this isn’t your traditional learning book, the limited text is just enough to teach kids about this rare creature, its size, and some of its outstanding features and abilities.

Giant Squids are almost a mystery – after all, they live really deep in the ocean, but evidence seems to show that there so many of them alive, even if we have rarely seen one! I love that this books gives us the clues of what scientists have learned so far, combined with some great imagery. The squid is never seen in full on a page (although there is a brilliant 4 page spread in the middle which has most of it!), making the realization that this monster is very oversized and imposing.

The back page of the book is a bonus, filled with websites and recommended resources to learn more – like watching a dissection and the only video recording of one in the wild.

An interesting introduction to marine biology.

Fun Science

If your child is older – like mid-teens +, Fun Science could be an option for a science lover. It is written by a YouTube science fan named Charlie, who explains everything in a casual, amusing, conversational style. The book has a lot going on visually – pictures, font style and size changes, scribbled in notes from the editor, diagrams and illustrations, boxes highlighting key text, coloured pages, etc. It’s very visual.

Within the pages of this hard-cover novel type book, Charlie tackles: Scientific Method, The Universe, The solar System, The Earth, Life, The Body, The Brain, The Cell, The Elements, The Particle, and The End of Time. I will point out that the author of this book writes from an old-earth, pro-evolution point of view – something that might not work with everyone’s opinions. For a “non-scientist,” the author is genuinely knowledgeable in his science!

The book itself is pretty funny, filled with jokes, puns, silly diagrams, do-it-yourself ideas, and more. Charlie’s tone is very fun to read – like someone just casually having a conversation about the deep things of science. However, I personally would suggest it is not written for young readers, but older teens. Just some of the language and topics being discussed seem to be targetted to this older crowd.

How Cities Work

Although I think most people would equate Lonely Planet to travel guides, they also have a whole kids’ collection, which still features various geography related books and the like. For example, this book, How Cities Work, is a unique way for kids to learn how the city runs from the inside, outside, and even underneath.

It involves a lot of opening pages allowing for a more panoramic view, or like lifting the covers off buildings to see what’s going on behind the walls or under the pavement. No matter how many times we look through this book, we always seem to find just one more flap or interesting thing that we missed the last time around.

I was totally excited to discover a mention of Toronto, Ontario under one of the flaps – where they praise our Canadian city for its unique PATH system. PATH is an underground network of pedestrian pathways interconnecting shops and stores and allowing people to get to major attractions without having to deal with the weather above ground.

This book is great for anyone who is able to use flaps without tearing the book. From preschooler to grown-ups, this book is a great learning tool with snippets of information, interesting artwork, and an opportunity to take a unique perspective of life in a big city.

Some other books I would recommend for curious kids would be the DK Eyewitness books (or maybe any books by DK!).

What books would you recommend?

Author
Recent Posts

Find Me On:

Lisa Marie Fletcher

Owner at The Canadian Homeschooler

Lisa Marie Fletcher is a mom of 5 with 15+ years of homeschooling experience. She started The Canadian Homeschooler in 2010 as a way to support the homeschooling community in Canada.

Find Me On:

Latest posts by Lisa Marie Fletcher (see all)

Homeschool Spelling Essentials: Ways to Make it Engaging (and Canadian!) - October 4, 2024
10 Simple Homeschool Organization Tips For Busy Homeschoolers - September 16, 2024
5 Ways Homeschoolers Can Enjoy Back to School - September 10, 2024

Books for Curious Kids

Thing Explainer

Giant Squid

Fun Science

How Cities Work

2 thoughts on “Books for Curious Kids”

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply