Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize shortlist

The summer holidays are here so to help keep your little scientists entertained, we’ve got hold of this year’s Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize shortlist. The six books – aimed at an audience of young people aged 14 and under – are up for grabs in this month’s competition.

We managed to rope in our own budding young scientist, nine-year-old Alana Gregory, to review some the shortlist – here’s what she had to say:

See Inside Inventions by Alex Frith (Usborne, £9.99)

I like the book See Inside Inventions, it doesn’t just show you about the past but it shows you what is to come in the future. Also there is a lot of beautiful pictures and neat writing so it isn’t so boring. It is very exciting because of the pop-up’s and there is also evidence to back up their ideas.

But I don’t like the way it is set out because you read the writing that is underneath the big heading but then you don’t know where to read because it is all over the place.

How the weather works by Christiane Dorian (Templar Publishing, £14.99)

I like the alliteration “weather works” in the title. There aren’t just facts but fun things to, and the pictures are so amazing they make me want to read on. But I don’t like the way it is set out because again you read the writing that is under the heading but then you do not know where to read next,  and I think there are too many pop up’s.

Science Experiments by Robert Winston and Ian Graham (Dorling Kindersley, £14.99)

I think the pictures are very interesting and it tells you how to do stuff, including what you need and steps, but I think there are too many pictures.

Plagues, Pox and Pestilence by Richard Platt (Kingfisher, £10.99)

I like it because it has lots of pictures, but I do not like it because it is hard to read the writing.

My favourite:

I like the book See Inside inventions the most because there aren’t just pictures and it’s all about real things. I like learning about olden day inventions like the trains, the mangle, the bikes so that’s my opinion – what’s yours?

Out of this world; All the cool bits about space by Clive Gifford (Buster Books, £7.99) is aimed at a slightly older audience, so we took a quick look. This fact-packed guide interspersed with beautiful line-drawings would make this an enjoyable read for any youngster. It looks at every part of the solar system – including the stars – and charts the history of space.

See June’s Laboratory News for our take on Richard Dawkin’s The Magic of Reality (Bantam Press, £20), which has also been shortlisted.

For your chance to win a bundle of the whole shortlist, just email your name, address and organisation/institution to phil.prime@laboratorynews.co.uk by 31^st August.