Everything Under the Sun

Why are dogs domesticated? Can whales fart? Why are sweets bad for you? Why can you remember your dreams on some days and not on others? These, and 362 other questions (including an extra one for a leap year), were sent to author Molly Oldfield for her podcast for children Everything Under The Sun, and are now answered in one extremely helpful book.

Often using insight from subject experts, Oldfield presents easy to understand answers to some of life’s most pressing questions for children, organised into chapters by month of the year so that children can find out something new and fascinating every day. There’s a nice range of questions and answers here, from the perennially popular wee, poo and fart topics to history, geography, science and lots more, many of which relate to children’s own lives, such as why we carve faces on pumpkins at Halloween, why we get hiccups, and why rollercoasters make your tummy tickle.

Featuring illustration from 12 different illustrators: Momoko Abe, Kelsey Buzzell, Beatrice Cerocchi, Alice Courtley, Sandra de la Prada, Grace Easton, Manuela Montoya Escobar, Richard Jones, Lisa Koesterke, Gwen Millward, Sally Mullaney and Laurie Stansfield, this is a beautiful gem of a book that is great both for researching specific questions and just browsing through for fun.