Weird But True World! 2023: Incredible facts, awesome photos, and weird wonders---for this year and beyond!

by National Geographic Kids

The BLOCKBUSTER kid-favorite series Weird But True! is busting out with a BIG, BOLD annual extravaganza of the wackiest, wildest, and downright weirdest wonders on planet Earth.

Discover Earth’s strangest animals, natural formations, festivals, ancient wonders, news, and more in this newest addition to the wildly popular Weird But True! family―an annual compendium of everything Weird But True! fans love ... and then some. Readers will journey across the seven continents, dive into the ocean, and even blast off into space to discover a whole wide world of weird. From the troll doll bug of Suriname to the Bog Snorkeling Championships in Wales to a technicolor village in Indonesia, Weird But True! World offers an unparalleled, adventure-filled exploration of our world’s amazing uniqueness.

Inside, you’ll
This book is perfect for fans of Weird But True!, as well as Atlas Obscura, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, and Guinness World Records, and any curious kid willing to embrace the quirky side of life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens

304 pages, Hardcover

Published August 23, 2022

About the author

With more than 600 titles—including the popular Weird But True franchise and the New York Times Best Selling National Geographic Kids Almanac—National Geographic Kids Books is the recognized leader in nonfiction for kids. Published in 28 languages, NGK Books reaches approximately 85 million kids every year.

Offering K-12 educators resources that align to and support the Common Core State Standards, National Geographic has a long history of providing high-quality informational texts suitable for primary, upper elementary, and middle school English language arts, social studies, and science classrooms.

Reviews

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the wildly popular Weird but True! series from National Geographic Kids comes a compilation of incredible facts, awesome photos, and weird wonders to entice your kids to read and learn. Chapters include Weird this Year, Incredible North America, Spectacular South America, Unique Europe, Awesome Africa, Astounding Asia, Outstanding Oceania, Amazing Antarctica, and Sensational Sea and Space. So as you can see, nothing is left out. This thick hardcover will keep your child engaged in learning all about our world for hours.

From odd masterpieces created by humans to quirky creatures to weird vacation destinations to incredible edibles and so much more, you’ll find so much to be awed about in the facts and photography. I even found myself googling a few places to learn more specifics about their location and history. The end of each chapter includes a quiz to test your knowledge after reading. There are other fun quizzes spread throughout the book as well. After taking the Perfect Day in North America quiz, I found a trip to Greenland to explore the color-coded buildings and history is my Perfect Day. I guess I better add that to my Bucket List!

The beginning of the book focuses on 2023 including dates of wacky events to mark on your calendar like “Dance like a Chicken Day” on May 14. You can also find weird photos of the year, weird animals, and weird places to live. A Year of You reveals that you’ve likely spent 24 total hours this year just brushing your teeth!

I could go on and on about the joy of reading through this book. Photos, fact bubbles, and short paragraphs hold kids’ attention and make them want to keep reading. There is seriously so much cool information in this book, the whole family will want to read it. Make learning fun with WORLD 2023!

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

WEIRD BUT TRUE WORLD 2023 brings children interesting and weird facts from all over the world, highlighting some that even happened this year! After the introduction, the book opens up for dates to look forward to in 2023 to celebrate the odd things in life and my daughter had me mark them on the calendar. It gives parents and children something to look forward to next year, which adds another life to this book if you ask me. Keeps it relevant. Then it breaks off into the different continents and gives us so many random, yet strange facts to expand the reader's knowledge bank.

As usual, National Geographic nails it on the layout. They always dominate in this division compared to other reference books. The bold colors and strange photographs are engaging and makes you want to look twice... and probably a third time. I really like the quizzes and how it gets the gears moving in children's minds and aids in retaining the information. It gives them challenge rather than just skimming through a picture book. It definitely gives me a Ripley's Believe it or Not feel, but I feel like this one is more appropriate for middle-grade children.


Final Verdict: For those children who are fascinated with strange facts or like to learn about places from all over the world, this is the book for them and look no further for a Christmas present. It's always nice giving something to a child that teaches them a thing or two and this one will do more than just that. I now have an unending supply of facts to keep both my daughter and my family entertained for a while.

[PottWab Regional Library]

O

[Library To-Go]

05/2023 Booktalks

[Jesica Butler]

So much fun to read, even for adults!