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Why not try a magazine - the BBC ones or The Week. I do recommend Information is Beautiful - it puts information in gorgeous diagrams and charts and is excellent for the enquiring mind. We've had lots of interesting discussions as a result of this book. I have reviewed them all on my website www.booksteensandmagazines.com.

Thanks everyone - some interesting ideas - although the £254 one is beyond our price range! I specifically wanted a book as I have this old fashioned idea that the information in books is more reliable than the internet?? Homework always seems to be based on Wikipedia, which is OK up to a point... But I do take the point about it being more up to date online, I suppose you just need to know the reliable sites to use and cross check everything.

(sorry not to respond earlier - connection probs and then I forgot I'd posted!

Is this your child? Because personally I find paper based encyclopaedias are rarely used, as you can find out so much more and so much more quickly on the internet. The information for some areas also changes so quickly that a book has no hope of being up to date, I may be biased as I am from a Science background. However I know even History is revised rapidly, for example Richard III and the finds in Leicester.

Could some one please explain what I am doing wrong when posting links? Is it due to my low message count?

DeadTall - sorry about the link. If you copy and paste it should work.

I have found subject orientated encyclopedias are better than the general kind. This is a great science encyclopedia:

www.amazon.co.uk/Science-Encyclopedia-DK-Online-Dk/dp/1405342129/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354192784&sr=1-3

The info is well presented and it is full of interesting pictures. It also has links to safe websites. My DD read it when she was 12 and greatly enjoyed the book. She is now 13 and uses it for homework referencing.

I'm also looking. DS1 is 9 but I want a "proper"(?) encyclopedia. My candidates so far:

www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=5403340178&searchurl=kn%3DUltimate%2BBook%2Bof%2BKnowledge%2Bchildren%2Bencyclopedia%26sts%3Dt%26x%3D0%26y%3D0

www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=8420975284&searchurl=kn%3Dscholastic%2Bchildren%2Bencyclopedia%26sts%3Dt%26x%3D0%26y%3D0

There are more here more nature-based, but I haven't investigated closely yet:

www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?kn=oxford+children+encyclopedia&sts=t&x=0&y=0

That is, if you don't want this:

www.amazon.co.uk/Britannica-Student-Encyclopedia-2012/dp/1615355197/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344235039&sr=8-1

or this:

www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Childrens-Encyclopedia-Set-9/dp/0199112444/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344234240&sr=1-7

Does anyone know of a reasonably priced (i.e. not hundreds of pounds) encyclopedia suitable for a 13 year old?

DS has a very inquisitive mind and we would love him to have a really meaty reference book to delve into. All the children's encyclopedias seem to be aimed at 7 - 12 year olds, or KS2, then it jumps to ones more suitable for A levels and beyond. Ideally it would be a general encyclo-whatsit (sorry struggling to spell it again) or a science / nature based one.

Any ideas?! thankyou!