Can anyone recommend good educational books for children?

[Arewenearlythereyet2009]

I'm a mother of four (two girls/two boys with ages ranging from 4-12 years)and was wondering if anyone could recommend some good educational books for them to read and entertain them during half-term? I work for a publishers and was just wondering if anyone could help me out?

What do you mean by "educational books"? Do you want some non-fiction, reference books? Or some "worthy" fiction? What sort of books do they enjoy reading?

I think the best thing is just to fill your house with books, or go to the library/book shop and let them choose.

Magazines and Newspapers are great too. My boys love First News and Focus Magazine.

what sort of book is non-educational?

Thanks for all the help! The books I mean are the ones that stimulate them with learning as well as being fun to read and stories. I've found the Bayard magazines good for this as they have different sets that cater for the age range of my kids, I also really like the Horrible History series as they manage to make history interesting. The problem is I think they're a bit too advanced for my two youngest and I just wondered if anyone could suggest more alternatives? I don't think there are non-educational books, but I'd just like them to read something that they will learn from.

Thanks for the suggestion of First News and Focus Magazine roisin, I'll definitely try those. Can you think of any others?

There's a lovely series which includes a book called The Global Garden and I think the Wonderful World Book. The author, iirc is Kate Petty. They are fab and have loads of pop-up bits and things to fiddle with but are stacked with information. Worth googling.

Oh that's brilliant. That's exactly the sort of thing I'm after, I need something that engages them. Like with the Bayard magazines for example, as well as having a combination of fiction and non-fiction stories, they have games and activities for them to do too.
Just things to keep them occupied; as knowing half-term it'll probably be raining!

"The World Came to My Place Today" is good.

There are other book series similar to Horrible Histories:

The Knowledge
What They Don't Tell You About
Dead Famous

Older children might like the My Story series of historical diaries.

I assume you're aware that there are Horrible Science and Horrible Geography books too, which are worth a look.

That's great, thanks streaky bacon! I knew that there were also Horrible Sciences, but I've managed to completely miss the Horrible Geography series! I'll be sure to check them out though. I like the sound of the 'What They Don't Tell You About,' do these cover different topics or just history?

Hopefully I'll soon have enough to keep them occupied as annoyingly they've already had this month's Bayard Magazines so now have to wait until March for the new one!

We've only got two What They Don't Tell Yous about Elizabeth I and the Cold War. Others are:
Ancient Egyptians
Romans in Britain
Henry VIII
Charles I
Victoria
WW1 and WW2
Ancient Greeks
Anglo Saxons
Vikings
Shakespeare

I have to say I haven't seen these in shops so I don't know if they're still in print (ours came from a car boot), but have just looked on Ebay and they have loads.

Do you work for Bayard? There's a lot of name dropping going on! You're obviously a big fan.

Why don't you just go to the library on day one of the holidays and let them take out their maximum amount each - where we are that's 12 books. Let them choose - it's their holiday after all.

Just found some more:

Spilling The Beans series, mini-biographies on

Einstein
Napoleon
Joan of Arc
Buffalo Bill
Tutankhamun
Julius Caesar
Shakespeare
Blackbeard
Robin Hood
Darwin

Do you know Horrible Histories have a sub-series on countries and cities eg Dublin, Stratford, Oxford.

I seem to remember a series called Watling Street about London's history.

Thank you so much for looking on ebay for me - just had a look and about to start spending. Hopefully they'll arrive before half-term and manage to keep my DS's and DD's occupied!

First news is fab, my 12 year old has enjoyed reading for the last few years.

Gingemum, if your daughter likes First News then she might like the DiscoveryBox Books from Bayard Magazines that I was talking about earlier. Mine love them as they're full of facts and activities.

not books (tho they may come in book form) but these are great for bedtime and car journeys and there is a whole series

www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Explorers-World-Christopher-Ferdinand/dp/9626342919

Urrrggghhh... I just looked at the Bayard site and think the products look pretty grim tbh. Very serious and 'worthy' and 'educational'; but nothing to really suggest that it will actually appeal to the children.

Very interesting that no-one on here is talking about them except the OP.

So come on, fess up, do you work for them, or what?!

Hi Roisin - I do work with Bayard but that's not why I'm in this forum, I genuinely am a mum with kids who like to read My children love the Bayard books and are always excited when the next edition comes out.

Thanks for all the other suggestions, we've got loads to be getting our heads buried in here x

I think maybe there is a prize for mentioning the word Bayard

DS is 6 and likes any sort of fact books. There are some Usborne ones (can't remember what they're called) but about all sorts of topics. He can probably read some of them himself now although we've had them for a while and it has more been me reading them for him.

The books are Usborne Beginners.

Next time you try and get them some free PR it might seem more natural if you don't mention the company name so much. A normal reader would surely just refer to them by the titles of the magazines themselves - it was a dead giveaway for me that you are involved with them. Along with the constant name dropping

I don't think its allowed to use mumsnet for free advertizing...