10,000 stunning photographs and illustrations catalog the wonders of history, space, the natural world, and more in Picturepedia. Bringing together an amazing array of images to explain every topic under the sun — and beyond, Picturepedia is the ultimate resource for kids ages 9– 12.
Chapters on science and technology, nature, geography, culture, sports and hobbies, and history cover insects, musical instruments, spacecraft, world maps, famous discoveries, prehistoric life, and more. Every double-page spread contains a wealth of information on a given topic, with galleries, lists, sequences, facts, timelines, and much more; while every topic is illustrated with up to 100 photos, graphics, and illustrations.
Perfect for gift giving, or adding to any home or school library, Picturepedia is a stimulating quick-reference that kids will come back to time and time again.
If you are like me, first, allow me to give you my condolences - it can be hell being this weird.
That being said, if you are like me and love visual dictionaries and useless knowledge, this is an amazing addition to your collection. It has a huge scope and fun randomness - there was a spread dedicated to different cuts of meat not far from a women's clothing historical timeline.
Highly recommended!
Edit (12/22) - I purchased an updated version at Barnes and Noble and it was updated but not to 2020. The pandemic, President Biden, January 6, and the death of Elizabeth II are not in here.
A mini-encyclopedia on every page! 10,000 stunning photographs and illustrations catalog the wonders of history, space, the natural world, and more in Picturepedia.
'Learning begins at home' - and DK books are great part of that! The one that caught my eye was Picturepedia: An Encyclopedia on Every Page. Inside you'll find "ten thousand stunning photographs and illustrations"!
Now little guy and I always have to look at the cover first. There was lots up front to pique his interest. Once he was done looking at that, and instead of reading front to back, we just started reading whatever page caught his attention. Animals, trucks and diggers have been the favourites so far. (I quite liked the Women's Fashion and Bread pages. Did you know that Turkey consumes more bread per person than any other county?)
For those of you who like to be a little more organized, the book does categories listed up front - Science and Technology, Nature, Geography Culture, Sports and Hobbies and History. Within those headings, you'll find a number of subcategories. There's also an index in the back if you want to look up specific topics.
And you'll find exactly what I expect from DK books. Beautiful, crisp, clean, full colour photographs and pictures. The layout is always great - with sidebars, information boxes and text with lots of white space framing them all. The book has sturdy covers and is very well made. And above all - concise information written in easy to understand language.
There's so much information inside - enough to keep preschool and elementary school aged interested and curious. This made for great reading together for Gramma and Little Guy. It's going to take a while to work our way through Picturepedia. Lots of learning to be had as he grows! Now this book is part of the DK children's collection, but I have to say the adults that saw this book were just as fascinated by it as the children that read it. It was left on the coffee table and everyone just had to have a peek inside!
This is another one of those books a person does not sit down and read from cover to cover. This is 360 pages of amusing information, descriptive diagrams, and magnificent images. I would suggest it as a gift to an adult who loves obscure facts or to a very curious kid. It is well worth the price of a print copy.
I nicked Picturepedia from my 13-year-old daughter, as I was finding it extremely interesting whenever we were browsing through it; and read it all!
I am very surprised that this booked is marketed towards teenagers and not to young adults, to say the least! I bet that the vast majority of adults in this world do not have an understanding or knowledge of most of the ideas & facts mentioned in this book - whether it's about Science, History, Geography, Religions, you name it! I have never had the pleasure of absorbing so many general knowledge items within such a short time - in any other mode or time in my life.
I wish this book was taught in schools or university and I would encourage every adult to ignore the recommendation that it is targeting young people; only because it contains lots of pictures!
This visual encyclopedia would be most-used in a primary school setting, but would be just as well-liked in a preschool for looking at the pictures. This book has a different topic on each page, with information and about 20 pictures of that topic. Includes everything, from animals (different breeds of dogs or butterflies, animal skeletons, and more) to transportation (how many different types of bicycles are there?) to food (different types of cheese) to history timelines and ancient artefacts to sports (pictures of tennis serves, etc) and so much more. This is a book children will come back to again and again and again, just to browse.
This book is truly the ultimate encyclopedia that children will love.
There are various types of DK encyclopedias. Some DK’s encyclopedias that specialize in specific topics, such as space, physics, chemistry, biology, and architecture and so on.
This book is an encyclopedia that covers a wide range of topics, not just one topic. With over 300 pages, there's a lot of information packed into one page.
Children can enjoy this book in any way they like, such as reading its entire pages or looking at their favorite sections. If you're interested in this book, this book is worth the purchase.
Deep within the confines of nameless cities lies a raving madwoman who knows all but understands none. Her rudimentary knowledge on forbidden topics could not be contained within her own brain lest her head grow a mind of its own, so she transcribed such wicked information into an encyclopedia. But this was no ordinary reference book, as instead of using words alone to communicate hidden truths about our cold and indifferent universe, she used... pictures. From that sanguine combination slithered the Picturepedia!
It's an information book with pictures written for children. Some of the descriptions are neat, others are very basic. It's pretty good for what it is I guess.
I love, love, love this book – it is a treasure trove of interesting information, all beautifully presented. I learn something new every time we look at this book – my daughter’s favourite pages are gem stones, volcanoes and whales, so those pages are regularly poured over. Mine include the history of civilisations; I’ve learned a lot about Roman, Persian and Chinese history lately!
Title of Item in APA Citation: Picturepedia. (2015). London : DK Publishing.
Citation By: Lauren Rataj
Reference Type: Encyclopedia
Call Number: Ref 031
Brief Description: This resource contains over 10,000 photographs and illustrations about history, space and the natural world. It uses images to explain many topics!
Content/Scope: This encyclopedia is targeted for students’ in grades 3-7. It provides information on a vast array of topics through the use of visuals.
Accuracy/Authority/Bias: This resource is published by DK Publishing. This company is known for its nonfiction resources. They support both content and student interest when it comes to resources. Both the content information provided and the physical quality of the text are always reliable.
Arrangement/Presentation: This resource is great for older elementary students. It is filled with color multiple pictures and illustrations on each page as well as other graphics like timelines and charts to teach students about concepts.
Relation to other works: There are many types of encyclopedias for students, but most are word-based. The information presented to students uses language that can be difficult to understand. Although this resource includes small paragraphs and captions, it is predominantly visuals and graphic organizers.
Accessibility/Diversity: This resource meets the needs of visual learners specifically but can be used by students of all abilities. The pictures helps to support the limited text for comprehension.
Citation: Alissa Trammel Type of Reference: Encyclopedia Call Number: Ref 031
Content/Scope: This book contains over 10,000 colorful illustrations and pictures to explain a plethora of topics, with a targeted audience of 9-12 year-old children.
Accuracy/Authority/Bias: The DK Publishing group is known for publishing nonfiction books for both content and student interest.
Arrangement/Presentation: This book is separated into chapters about such topics such as science and technology, nature, geography, culture, sports and hobbies, etc. Each section contains information on the topic, lists, pictures and illustrations, timelines, etc.
Accessibility/Diversity: This book is targeted toward younger audiences, but available to anyone in the library.
Relation: This book will be the only encyclopedia in this library that is targeted for a younger audience.
Content/Scope: Grades 4-7. The topics are vast. Numerous entries for various topics from country symbols, animals, and food. Provides the basic information for elementary students.
Accuracy/Authority/Bias: DK Publishing has a variety of books. They specialize in illustrated reference books.
Arrangement/Presentation: The numerous pages (360) have detailed photos. There is an index for easy location of topics.
Relation to other works: This reference provides an introduction to several topics for the elementary student. It aligns with common core.
Accessibility/Diversity: The illustrations help with easy understanding of the topics for younger students and the visual learner. The language is non-sexist.
Cost: $29.99
Professional Review: Verbeten, S. (2016). Picturepedia. School Library Journal. 62(5), 68.
Best encyclopedia ever for the preschool set. We've had this for half a year and it still comes out almost everyday whenever the kids want to look something up or find out more about something or just peruse their favorite pictures. My 2.5 year old and 4 year old both love it, and I suspect it would be just as popular with kids a couple years older. There's not much in the way of text worth reading but the pictures are amazing and spark some great discussions. Practically everything the kids have wanted to find out about so far has been in here. Pasta? There's a whole page on that. Monkeys? Planets? Skeletons? Kings of England? Precious stones? Those too. Unexpected side effects may include having to explain French philosophers, extinction, and the notion of a revolution to your 4-year-old. Seriously, though, if you have preschoolers in your house, you should have this on your shelves.
This "mini" encyclopedia provides a little bit of information on a wide variety of topics, everything from Science & Technology (universe, planets, space exploration, physics, chemistry, the periodic table, the human body, computers, and more) to Nature (fossils, plants, trees, animals, habitats, etc.) to all things relating to Geography to Culture (World Religions, Celebrations, and Languages, musical instruments, dance, great buildings, food, etc.) to Sports and Hobbies to everything History.
There are A LOT of color pictures, maps, step-by-step instructions for things like knots, tables, timelines, and more!
Visually, the book has so many eye catching elements. Yet, I was intrigued by what was included and excluded in the history section. "Exploration" has a two-page spread but doesn't address indigenous populations at all. The WWI and WWI get two pages yet "...up to 12 million Africans were kidnapped from their homes and sold in the Americas as slaves. They were transported in slave ships, and many died of disease and lack of food and water" gets 1/12 of a page on "European empires" spread with a slave ship image. There are some mentions of African slaves and African American soldiers on the "US Civil War" pages but all of the images depict white men.
A very uneven work: aviation one section, the bicycle one section. At least they have split the Northern skies and the Southern skies in two different sections. Otherwise, the very colorful DK style of pagination.
I have been looking at this book since I was two years old. I’m five years old now and I can read almost all of this book. My favorite topic is the numbers. I like the negative numbers and fractions and composite numbers and also prime numbers.