Making Sense of the Gods: Five Fun Myth Books

Young Zeus

By G. Brian Karas

Scholastic Press, 2010

$17.99, ages 4-18, 48 pages

Encyclopedia Mythologica:
Gods & Heroes

By Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda

Candlewick Press, 2010

$29.99, ages 9-12, 12 pages

Mythical gods may not rank up there with wizards and vampires as your child's favorite characters -- and not surprisingly. With so many duking it out for control over the universe, it's enough to make your child's head spin.

But when you think about how often myths pop up in children's books -- from Chris Van Allsburg's The Wreck of the Zephyr to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series -- it's hard not to want to nudge your child to learn the basics.

Just knowing a little about the gods, heroes and beasts of Greek, Roman and Nordic mythology can enrich your child's reading experience -- and ideally, give them insight into some of the books they already love to read.

The challenge, of course, is finding mythology books that are interesting enough to draw readers away from their usual selections and brush up on who's who.

Fortunately there are some really great books that bring levity, clarity and a lot fun to the subject.

One of my new favorites is Karas's Young Zeus -- a perfect picture book to introduce young readers to the Greek gods' family tree. Karas retells the story of the chief deity in such a playful way its seems more like a fairy tale than an ancient legend.

The book opens with the queen of heaven Rhea whisking her baby son Zeus out of harm's way to the island of Crete. Fearing that Zeus's sinister father, the Titan Cronus, will eat Zeus if he discovers his son is still alive, Rhea asks an enchanted she-goat Amaltheia to keep Zeus hidden until he's grown.

Though Zeus is happy playing in the golden sun with all of the beasts and birds of Crete, he misses playing with other gods, and asks "Ammy" (Amaltheia) why he's all alone. Like all Greek mythology, it's complicated, but Ammy manages to give Zeus a good run-through of the quarrels that led to his dilemma.

First, of course, was the marital discord between his grandparents the sky god Uranus and earth god Gaia -- Uranus loved twelve of his children, the Titans, but was so ashamed of the six who were monsters that he locked them away in the underworld against his wife's wishes.

Then there's that louse Cronos, who was asked by his mother Gaia to dethrone Uranus and free his six monster siblings, but instead left them in the underworld to suffer. He was so power-hungry that he eventually gobbled up all of his children (except Zeus of course) for fear they might overthrow him.

Little did Cronos know, however, that when he began to eat his kids, his wife Rhea wrapped a rock up in a blanket to look like Zeus, and stole Zeus away to safety, which brings Ammy to the end of her story -- and the beginning of Zeus's legendary fight for justice.

On the next pages, Zeus embarks on a quest to free his siblings, the other Olympians, from his father's stomach and together with the help of his uncles in the underworld, defeat Cronos and his other sons, the wicked Titans.

Karas brings humor and magic to this tale, depicting scenes as I child might imagine them. There's mother Rhea sweeping down like a storm cloud with baby Zeus, then a young Zeus, nearly as tall as the tree he's sitting by, moping with his head in his hands because he doesn't have any gods to play with.

Another splendid new release is Reinhart and Sabuda's Encyclopedia Mythologica: Gods & Heroes, an overview of ancient myths with intricate pop-ups no child can resist.

On one page Thor, the Nordic sky god, pops out at readers with a magical hammer over his head while on another an Aztec serpent flies toward them with its jaws open. (Just be sure to open and close each spread slowly. Some pop-ups have to be guided closed to prevent elements from overlapping and ripping.)

Watch a book trailer of the pop-up below!

You also can't go wrong with the 2007 Mythology and the 2009 followup The Mythology Handbook: An Introduction to the Greek Myths, both part of Candlewick's "Ology" series.

Mythology, the scrapbook of fictional nineteenth century scholar Lady Hestia Evans, includes fun pull-out parts and flaps, and curiosities. including a card game featuring the 12 Olympians. The Mythology Handbook, a workbook of lessons for Hestia's two children, includes mazes, a word search using Greek letters, stickers, fact files and maps.

Another wonderful book is Eric A. Kimmel and Pep Montserrat's The McElderry Book of Greek Myths, a 2008 release from Margaret K. McElderry. Perfect for bedside reading, the anthology brings to life 12 myths (among them Pandora's Box and the story of Pygmalion) with richly colored images that meander around the text.

The Wish Stealers

By Tracy Trivas

Aladdin, 2010

$16.99, ages 8-12, 284 pages

Griffin Penshine never thought twice about making a wish until the day she met an old woman and accepted her box of stolen wishes. Now one wrong wish from Griffin could lead to powerful trouble unless she can return 11 pennies to their rightful owners.

In this charming debut by Trivas, Griffin is the kind of girl who throws caution to the wind: she never misses a chance to blow dandelion fluff or rescue a friend's loose eyelash so she can make a wish of her own, and she never hesitates to wish wondrous things, like raindrops turning into chocolate.

But when 12-year-old Griffin is tricked into becoming the new guardian of stolen wishes on the eve of her sixth grade year, suddenly all of her good thoughts are being cancelled out and anything she wishes for out of anger but doesn't really mean (especially toward the nasty girl in class) is coming true.

Unless Griffin can figure out how to break the curse of being a wish stealer, she could lose all of the things she's dreamed about, becoming an amazing bass guitarist, having a healthy new baby sister, seeing grandma recover from her dizzy spells, and all that's good inside of her could shrivel up just like it did in the old lady who stole the wishes.

Griffin's troubles begin one afternoon at her neighbor Mr. Schmidt's antique store. While tagging along with her astronomer mother Dr. Penshine, Griffin is approached by his great-aunt Mariah Weatherby Schmidt and offered a shiny penny and a box of polishing cloths. Though deep down Griffin wants to refuse the gift, something inside her can't resist.

The penny, an 1897 Indian Head, seems to have a hypnotic pull over her and that night, Griffin discovers that it's not the only one. During a thunder strike the box of polishing clothes mysteriously pops open and reveals 10 more Indian Head pennies and a note from Mariah, detailing a wicked curse that she's passed on to Griffin.

Long ago Mariah stole pennies from a wishing fountain to indulge herself with treats. Every time she scooped up change, she blocked any wish someone made from coming true. Now that Mariah is 92 and her life is coming to a close, she's chosen Griffin to be the next wish stealer -- anyone in possession of the stolen pennies automatically bears the curse -- and made it next to impossible for Griffin to do anything about it.

Mariah warns Griffin that wish stealers are controlled by three rules: 1. Their good wishes can no longer come true. 2. Anything evil they wish for will happen. 3. If a wish stealer tells anyone about the curse, that person will be doomed for life and will never have wishes come true. What's more the longer a wish stealer is in possession of stolen wishes, the more corrupt she becomes.

Not a great beginning for Griffin's sixth grade year, but with a little insight from ancient alchemists, an eerie troupe of traveling Shakespearean actresses, and a Pennies for the Planet fundraising campaign, and some guidance from her grandmother, Griffin might just find there's something more powerful than a wicked curse.

This story sparkles from start to finish -- the perfect pick-me-up for any reader who's ever thrown a wish to the wind. Every chapter ends with an inspirational quote about believing in yourself and not letting others trounce on your dreams, either from a famous thinker or the author, including some I'm sure to borrow.

My favorites, "Stuff your ears with clouds," (Grandma Penshine's advice if someone tries to pull you down with negativity), and philosopher Joseph Campbell's "Follow your bliss."

Consider sending this gem to your favorite middle-grade reader, along with a box of 11 shiny pennies she can label and give away, as well as a few good luck charms similar to those given to Griffin by her grandmother, a shiny river rock, a ring with a faux blue gem and one lucky penny of her own.

Then check out these great websites under my "BLOGS AND LINKS I'M FOLLOWING" -- www.penniesfortheplanet.org and www.worldwishproject.com -- and help turn wishes into gold.

The Purple Kangaroo

by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Peter Brown

Simon & Schuster, 2010

$16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages

In this goofy fun book by Comedy Central comedian Black, a monkey claims to be a mind-reader and tricks readers into thinking exactly what he wants them to.

When readers first meet the monkey, he appears be running a lemonade stand. But then he starts talking about reading their minds and it's clear he isn't selling drinks.

What this long-tailed wiseacre is "selling" is a joke, but first he's got to set it up and give readers a good mental image, in this case one so vivid that it will seem like their own.

The monkey, a slick fellow with a perma press smile, opens his routine using the element of surprise.

Hidden behind the lemonade stand, he calls out, "Hey Kid!… I can read minds. It's true. In fact, I can read YOUR mind."

Then he pops up from behind the stand, and slides a "Mind Reader" sign over the one reading "Lemonade" on the stand.

(Clearly this is a bit the monkey's done before.)

Next, he asks readers to think of something "so spectacular that nobody has ever thought of it in the entire history of thinking about things."

He plugs his ears and asks readers to say their thought out loud, assuring them that he can't hear anything they say.

After all, "I'm just a picture in a book."

Next, readers witness the monkey's "unusual, incredible, amazing, and slightly alarming magical powers" (his eyes spiral), as he makes a wild guess at what they're thinking.

"You were thinking about a purple kangaroo!" he exclaims.

Of course that wasn't what readers were thinking about and the monkey, like any smooth-talker, has already thought of what to say before readers can reply.

Pretending he needs to jar their memory of the kangaroo, the monkey launches into a succession of absurd details about the kangaroo.

You remember, he says emphatically,...

The monkey who was looking for his chinchilla friend Senor Ernesto de Pantalones while roller skating and juggling five fragrant bananas?

The one who blew an enormous bubble of rainbow gum out of his nose and was showered with gold coins for his feat?

The one who then used the money to hire a rhino to fly him in a paisley blimp into the stratosphere so he could search for his friend?

The one who found his friend waving a flag on the moon?

Well, he adds with a fit of laughter, you're thinking about it now!

A goof at heart, Black uses the craft of joke-telling, adds in a bit of absurdity and creates a book too silly to resist.

Black co-stars with Michael Showalter in Comedy Central's "Michael & Michael Have Issues."

Don't miss the hilarious video below of Black reading his book!

The Chestnut King

By N.D. Wilson

Random House Books for Young Readers, 2010

$16.99, ages 9 and up, 496 pages

It's been three years since N.D. Wilson wowed readers with the first installment of The 100 Cupboards trilogy, and as the series comes to a close, I feel as though I've come out of an incredible adventure.

In much the same way that D.M. Cornish's mythical Half-Continent in the Monster Blood Tattoo series seemed so tangible and alive, Wilson's Henry, Kansas, and his worlds of the cupboards, Baden Hill, Hylfing and even Endor feel like places I've entered.

In this last, climactic book about Henry York and the magical cupboards he found hidden in his aunt and uncle's Kansas farmhouse, Henry is no longer the naive, sheltered boy who wonders why he's so disconnected from the parents who raised him in Boston.

Though still a nervous boy prone to throwing up when he's scared, he is now the powerful seventh son in a line of seventh sons, rooted to another world that he's destined to protect.

It's been a year since Henry and cousin Henrietta found seams leading to other worlds through 100 cabinets in the farmhouse attic and their late grandfather's bedroom, and a year since they made the mistake of wandering too far into one and freeing an evil witch-queen from her tomb.

In that time, Henry has made discoveries he never imagined, most importantly that he was born into one of these magical worlds in a seaside town known as Hylfing.

There, behind one of the cupboards, Henry is reunited with his birth mother Hyacinth and sisters Una and Isa, and christened Henry York Macabee just in time to free his legendary birth father, Mordecai Westmore, from a faeren curse and help bring down one of witch-queen's henchmen with a magical arrow.

Now turning 13, Henry has settled into his new life in Hylfing, occasionally sneaking back to Kansas through a cupboard he moved from the farmhouse attic to a shed by his birth parents' home to pitch baseballs to his friend Zeke Johnson, but now he's saddled with an enormous burden.

The witch-queen, Nimiane, whom he released from cupboard number 8 when a mythical creature, a raggant, came looking for him, is leaving a trail of death across the worlds. She wants to devour life from the city of Dumarre, the capitol of his new home, and turn it into a new Endor, an empire of death.

Nimiane, who is blind and sees through a cat she carries, also wants to find Henry, take over his soul and gain strength from his newfound powers.

In the second book, Dandelion Fire, Henry's palm was branded with the magic of dandelion fire, a supernatural power that guards his soul from evil and gives him second sight to escape the witch-queen's trickery, but he was also scarred by Nimiane.

During a confrontation in the farmhouse, Nimiane's blood wormed into his jaw, and now it threatens to spread into his brain and turn Henry into a fingerling, a dead body that does Nimiane's bidding through a finger that sprouts from its head.

The question that keeps us riveted in Book 3 is whether Henry's dandelion fire will be a match for Nimiane's immortality, her "great, grinding death," or whether his mark will be her curse?

Like dandelion weeds, which find life again by broadcasting seeds and multiply quickly, his dandelion fire gains strength from its own renewal -- but as Nimiane feeds off of the living, her power also grows, as does the scar in Henry's jaw that's pulling him to her.

Henry knows his father Mordecai and uncle Caleb entombed the witch-queen once when they were young and might be able to do so again, but this would not save Henry's life. Only when the witch-queen dies will the cold blood in his jaw die as well.

But killing off an undying queen may not even be possible, especially now that the emperor of Dumarre has made a deal with Nimiane.

In exchange for giving his City of the Seas immortality, he is letting the witch-queen hide in his palace and control his fleet in the harbor, as her witch-dogs, wizards, and fingerlings order his imperial soldiers to kill those who oppose her.

And now Mordecai and Uncle Caleb have gone to Endor to search for a way to kill the witch and save Henry's life, and unknowingly left Hylfing vulnerable to soldiers under the witch-queen's control.

Just when Henry is reunited with his brother James, soldiers break into their Hylfing home and haul James away with Uncle Frank, Aunt Dottie, Hyacinth, Isa, cousin Penelope, and wizard friend Monmouth to an imperial ship. Soon after, they burn down their home, entrapping his grandmother, Henrietta and his loyal raggant inside.

Henry's only hope to save his family, his world and himself could rest with The Chestnut King, the ruler of an aloof band of pirate faeries. Mordecai thinks the king, known as Nudd, may know where to find an ancient relic believed to control the witch-queen's immortality, the Blackstar.

But even if Nudd knows where the star is, will he be willing to help? He's already sent his faeren to capture Henry's friend, the rogue faerie Fat Frank, and taken his cousin Anastasia, Una and friend Richard with him. Will he prove to be friend or foe? And if he does agree to help, at what cost?

Though Wilson's descriptions of Endor's history are at times complex, I was completely enthralled in this series and loved every moment.

I was drawn to the inventiveness of Wilson's story, and how skillfully he moved it along, quickly shifting among different characters and their adventures. At times it felt as if the characters barely caught their breath and they were thrown back into danger.

I also liked how genuine the characters felt, the frailty Wilson shows in each of them, as well as the loyalty, boldness and humor.

One of the great lines of the book comes from Zeke after a near-death escape with Henry and Henrietta from fingerlings into Kansas.

Henry is feeling defeated and Henrietta, always a bit brash, is giving him an earful for daring to suggest that he give up.

She rattles off all the ways they could still try to bring down the witch-queen -- poison her, bomb her, burn her -- when Zeke chimes in and suggests they get Frodo to destroy her like he did the Dark Lord in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

"Maybe she has a ring," he says. "All we need is a hobbit and a volcano."

Wilson's humor, often subtle and unexpected, comes through at just the right moments, adding levity during the darkest parts of the book and heightening the euphoria when Henry's family and friends make it through another close call.

I loved the subtle symbolism in the book, the nod to the Wizard of Oz (Henry's uncle name is Frank and his wife Dottie's name is short for Dorothy), the references to baseball, and the care Wilson took to carry through every theme to the end, no matter how secondary it became as the main story advanced, including how life continued in Henry, Kansas, after Henry and his family left.

One of the risks of any series is that over the course of several books a plot can lose its momentum and spark, but Wilson's imagination was always up to the challenge. His story line, so unique and imaginative, never languished over the three books, and I was continually carried away from my own reality.

At times I caught my eyes darting from one line to the next, my hands gripping either side of the book and myself holding my breath as Henry York and his family struggled to escape danger.

I only wish there was another adventure still to come for Henry York, but for now, I'll be content with whatever Wilson sends our way.

Kiss Kiss

Written and illustrated by Selma Mandine, translated by Michelle Williams

Golden Books/Random House, 2009

$9.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages

Ordinarily you wouldn't expect a hardback book to look snuggly, especially one that doesn't have touch-and-feel panels. But Kiss Kiss sure makes you want to nestle up inside of it.

In Kiss Kiss, French author-illustrator Mandine turns the familiar premise, what kisses feel like, into something fresh and irresistible.

Each picture evokes a softness beyond what you'd expect from a book page and leaves you wishing you could feel everything you see.

The Golden Book opens with a rosy-nosed boy in a yellow hooded sleeper asking his pudgy stuffed bear if he knows what a kiss is like.

Then with every page the little boy describes each kiss that he knows.

First it's Mommy's super soft kiss. As Mommy and the boy embrace, his hood becomes a wig of the softest wool and you see heart-shaped clouds float away, carrying the bear and the boy's toy chick blissfully with them.

Daddy's kiss isn't so soft with all of those prickly whiskers on his chin, but it doesn't hurt. It tickles.

As Daddy and the boy giggle in each other's arms, his hood resembles the outside of a cactus, while in the distance his toy alligator sits upright like a saguaro, with the chick perched on its head.

In the next pages, you see Grandpa's kiss turn into strands of cotton candy as his beard envelops the boy in sweet softness, and watch Grandma blowing noisy kisses that transform the boy into a pink musical note.

There is the kiss the boy can see, the chocolate one from little brother Christopher, who forgets to wipe his mouth; the one that makes him blush, from a girl with a polka dot red hoodie; and the sloppy one from his dog that sprays heart-shaped droplets all over his face.

Remembering how much he is loved, the boy beams with happiness, but does Bear really understand what makes a kiss?

Bear, whose stitches are loose from so much cuddling with the boy, isn't so sure he does, but tries to make one anyway.

On the last pages readers find Bear puckering up to them and a sentence for them to finish: "A kiss for …"

Mandine's illustrations are soft and dreamy like those of Italian illustrator Nicoletta Ceccoli (Oscar and the Mooncats, The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum), and have a sweet silliness that will endear children immediately.

I can't think of a sweeter story to read tonight after my child pulls up his covers.

Rose's Garden

By Peter H. Reynolds

Candlewick Press, 2009

$15.99, all ages, 40 pages

Standing astride a giant floating teapot, a girl named Rose sails the world gathering seeds for a city garden in this uplifting tribute to the late Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The girl, with her long jacket trailing behind and her head held high, echoes the spirit of the Kennedy matriarch -- her steely determination, exuberance and desire to increase the well-being of others -- as she pulls together a community to grow a garden.

The garden is both a metaphor for faith and symbolic of a mile-long ribbon of parks and public spaces in Boston inspired by Kennedy's life, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which officially opened in 2008, 13 years after her death at age 104.

In Reynolds' story, Rose is steadfast and sure, and drifts from place to place until her teapot, an ornate vessel the length of a large rowboat, is brimming with seeds of all kinds and she wanders into the port of a bustling city to look for a site for her garden.

From his lighthouse window, the harbormaster suggests Rose float upriver to where it's lovely, but Rose wants to search the city first.

There she finds a forgotten stretch of earth between two walls of buildings -- a barren plot similar to areas transformed into the Kennedy greenway -- and decides this is the place that needs her seeds the most.

But the garden doesn't come easily for Rose. As she's working the soil, a flock of birds swoops down on the teapot and the birds eat most of the seeds.

(The greenway too was slowed by obstacles, many related to the rerouting of Boston's overpass, the Central Artery. Room for parks became available as the artery was moved underground.)

Rose is startled, but she sees how full and happy the birds seem and realizes all is not lost. So she slips into the teapot to gather the few seeds that are left, determined to make the most of what she has.

Parents may be reminded of Kennedy's famous quote about her own resilience after tragedy, including the assassinations of sons, President John Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy:

"Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?"

Just like moving on in real-life, however, the seeds don't take quickly to the cityscape. Seasons pass without signs of life in the garden, with each season exacting its severity on the land.

Yet Rose doesn't give up and soon word of her faith spreads through the city.

Children from all over the city go to the empty plot to meet Rose and deliver her flowers they've made from paper. Like the seeds she's tried to spread, they share stories of their journeys to the city and together, become a community.

In a similar way, the greenway reunited the neighborhoods of Boston, connecting four park areas from the North End to Chinatown. Each park now celebrates the neighborhood it passes through and the city's history as a whole.

At the sight of all of the paper flowers arranged in the soil, Rose's heart brims. An entire city has pulled together. Then she wades through the sea of blossoms and a miracle unfolds.

She hears a bee and follows the buzzing to a real red rose bursting out of the paper garden, the first of many flowers sprouting to life.

At his mother's funeral in 1995, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy spoke of an inner strength that radiated from his mother's life, and thanks to Reynolds' tender tribute, we feel it once more.

Reynolds, a New York Times best-selling illustrator, is also author of So Few of Me, The North Star, The Dot and Ish.

To watch a "Telefable" version of the story, go to www.rosekennedygreenway.org/programs/telefable.

Fun, Fast Facts: Five Books Kids Can't Put Down

If your kids crave information but are tired of wading through dull texts, here are five fact books from DK Publishing that will change the way they look at nonfiction.

How to Be a Genius: Your Brain and How to Train It, explores the wonders of the brain, from how it gathers data to how it reads emotions and grows, with puzzles, experiments and illusions to trick the brain, test memory and boost creativity.

109 Forgotten American Heroes spotlights heroes (and a few villains) many kids never learn about, from the high-climbing ear cleaners of the Lincoln Memorial to the inventor of the yellow smiley face to a Massachusetts nurse who almost started the American Revolution.

Open Me Up: Everything You Need to Know About the Human Body details all that it means to be human -- including how cells divide to make bodies grow, how bodies stay warm when it's cold, what happens in the brain during sleep and which joints allow heads to turn.

The Greatest Intergalactic Guide to Space Ever follows the Brainwaves, tiny Smurf-like characters, in outer space as they learn about stars, black holes, nebulae and more. On one page, kids see them steering bumper cars to rotate planets around the sun and on another they get stuck in a soup of particles after the Big Bang.

Ask Me Anything: Every Fact You Ever Wanted to Know answers almost any question kids could ask and many they probably never thought of asking, including: Will the sun shine forever? Why don't haircuts hurt? Why do bones remain for centuries after a person dies? and my favorite: Can a car run on chocolate?

Each book is packed with facts, but doesn't require pages of reading.

What's more, none looks like the stereotypical reference book, in which the layout is predictable and is designed for retrieving information more than settling in for a long read.

With a standard encyclopedia, kids tend to look up something, then close the book, but with these compendiums, there's so much to catch their eye that they want to hang out and explore.

In Open Me Up, even the content pages are fun to look at, with break-out boxes of titles and pages pointing to relevant body parts on a human body diagram.

Authors lead kids into a subject with bold headings, then deliver snappy text and fun angles to keep them interested.

A spread in Open Me Up titled, "Dental Kit," shows foods moving on a conveyor belt into a metal grinding machine with teeth. The teeth are cataloged as tearers, choppers, crushers and so on, as they prepare food for swallowing.

Many of the books also have games and quizzes spread throughout or make kids feel a part of the subject matter in other ways.

In The Greatest Intergalactic Guide to Space Ever, readers experience outer space through the antics of the cartoon Brainwaves, who go everywhere kids can't go but perhaps wish they could.

Brainwaves zoom through space on flying bicycles, surfboards, even a motorized toilet; climb aboard a planetary merry-go-round; and vacation on Mars. There they bungee jump off canyons, ride a cable car to view two moons and attempt a game of fetch with a Mars rover.

In Ask Me Anything, authors connect readers to the subject through a fun feature titled, "What about me?"

In a spread about space flight, kids learn they could book a seat on a spacecraft for $200,000 and in a section on gravity, they discover their sneeze exerts g-forces similar to those felt by astronauts during a space shuttle launch.

Facts are given without long lead-ins or elaborations, and introductions are either spare or nonexistent.

The books are the antithesis of the dull text book and authors aren't afraid to poke fun at the traditional format.

In 109 Forgotten American Heroes, a warning label is posted in bright red above the introduction, "This section is intended only for readers interested in reading a long, laborious, actual introduction." Then when the actual foreword begins, the authors exclaim to the readers, "Still! You're still here!"

Information, whether it's silly or serious, is explored in ways that kids can relate to, with quirky references, imaginative tie-ins to their experiences and eye-catching graphics.

Open Me Up shows pathways of blood as streets on a map, body tissue samples as slices of cake and organs of the digestive system as a colorful series of skinny balloons, while How to Be a Genius depicts the brain as a building under construction with workers adding to the scaffolding.

Sometimes well-known images are repackaged in a hip way or the subject matter is adapted to famous paintings and pop art. Portraits might be pixelated or shown in multiple frames against bright colors like Andy Warhol's silkscreen images of celebrities.

Some spreads look like advertising campaigns. Others resemble old circus posters or political pamphlets, or feature caricatures, blueprints or game boards. A spread on Mary Todd Lincoln's superstitions in 109 Forgotten American Heroes looks like a Ouija board.

And there's usually something to laugh about.

In 109 Forgotten American Heroes, cartoon characters gorge on giant french fries as kids read about a salesman who introduced the idea of jumbo portions to fast food chains.

Later, kids read an end note (literally after the index and credits) thanking all of the "heroic" trees that were sacrificed to make the book.

Sacrificed perhaps, but definitely not wasted.