Sportopedia: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Sport
by Adam Skinner, illustrated by Mark Long
Interest age: 6 to 10
Reading age: 7+
Published by Wide Eyed Editions, 2018
About this book
From Volleyball to UFC, Darts to Formula 1 and Gymnastics to Table Tennis, there's something for everyone in this luxuriously large nonfiction compendium of all things sporty.
Split into nine useful sections - ball sports, combat sports, water sports, motor sports, and so on - each sport is outlined in fascinating variety, from kit to rules and pitch diagrams to interesting facts about the game. For instance, did you know that the Titanic had a squash court on board? Or that ballet tutus are forbidden in rhythmic gymnastics?
The book's beautiful, bright, child-friendly design features plenty of diverse representation; the design is clear and accessible but with plenty going on to interest casual readers or sports fanatics. Reading this will most likely introduce children to sports they've never heard of before as well as the familiar ones, including Kabaddi and Sumo Wrestling. There's also a section on the Paralympic Games as well as the Olympic Games.
It's great to see sport featured in the large, beautiful non-fiction hardback genre as it's such a huge part of many children's lives and tends to be rather under-represented in books for young readers.
More books like this
-
Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present
by Jamia Wilson, illustrated by Andrea Pippins
5 to 14 years
-
Unbelievable Football: The Most Incredible True Football Stories (You Never Knew)
by Matt Oldfield, illustrated by Ollie Mann
5 to 14 years
-
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
5 to 14 years
-
Football School: Epic Heroes
by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttelton, illustrated by Spike Gerrell
5 to 14 years
Lists of recommended reads
-
12 great books for 8 year olds
Our favourite 12 modern-day books for eight year olds.
-
Fantastic factual books
Our former Writer in Residence, Rashmi Sirdeshpande, recommends some fantastic non-fiction books to keep children reading.