Online Catalogue:OFFBEAT KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING FOR CHILDREN

Do Not Open-Book-Ages 10-13 Price:  £19.99  Psst! Want to know a secret? Do you dare open me up? Because inside you’ll find the incredible TRUTH about mind-boggling confidential stuff 'they' don't want you to know! Introduction From the publishers who brought you the totally fantastic Pick Me Up, Put Me Down, find out where the Bermuda Triangle is, whether alien abductions actually happen, and the truth about crop circles. Explore lost worlds, unravel secret codes, marvel at mysterious places and meet spooks, spies, secret keepers and scandal makers of the world. When you’ve finished riddle solving, close me up in my funky metal box so no one else can get at my secrets! But ssh! Don’t tell a soul.

How the Incredible Human Body Works Price:  £12.99  Introduction Meet the Brainwaves, pint-sized pals who’ll take you on a rollicking, rip-roaring romp around the human body. Look out for them along the way as you see a fight against an invasion of horrible toxic bacteria, dodge squirting digestive juices, and take a white-knuckle ride on red rapids of gushing blood. Fantastic fold-out pages reveal exactly what’s happening in your insides, exploring all the important bits, and how they work. It’s a quirky quest of discovery!

Why Is Snot Green? Price:  £4.99  All the answers you will ever need! Why is snot is green? Do rabbits fart? What causes earthquakes? Do birds kiss? What is colour blindness? Why do we snore? Why do tigers have stripes? What makes our tummies rumble? Discover the answers to these and 192 other questions frequently asked at the Science Museum in this wonderfully funny and informative book. It is divided into five sections which cover everything from The Big Bang to bodily functions and cool gadgets Us, the Universe and Everything Why Is the Planet So Angry? It’s Alive! Humankind Smart Stuff, Cool gadgets. Two million people visit the Science Museum every year to see the extraordinary selection of exhibits and objects exploring the past, present and future of human invention and discovery. We are delighted to be publishing this brilliant book in association with the museum, where children of all ages can learn about science in a fresh, fun and interactive way.

Alphabet Soup An A-Z of Abbreviations Price:  £7.99  What does DVD actually stand for? Is OK a real abbreviation? If you have ever wanted to know the answers to these questions, this is the book for you. Abbreviations occur in every aspect of our daily lives. Some have become words in their own right, like radar and laser, and many are almost never used in their full form (phone, MOT, DVD). Others, like cf., ibid. and viz., are often seen but fewer and fewer of us know what they stand for. Thousands more belong to specialist jargon, understood by insiders - TLAs (three-letter acronyms) such as WAN or WAP and other acronyms such as NIMBY and BOGOF. This new book provides explanations for over 8,000 entries, and covers the full range of subject areas including law, computing, aviation, politics and medicine, as well as chemical symbols and txt msgs. From GDP to WHO and CPR to IMHO, this book will give you the meaning of every abbreviation you ever wondered about.

Dictionary of Contemporary Slang-Book Price:  £9.99  With more than 15,000 definitions, this is a guide to the use of slang today. It deals with drugs, sport and contemporary society, as well as favourite slang topics such as sex and bodily functions. In the new edition of this highly acclaimed and bestselling book, language and culture expert Tony Thorne explores the teeming and ever-changing underworld of the English language, bringing back intriguing examples of eccentricity, irreverence and anonymous wit from the linguistic front-line. The author has carried out original research among slang users and connoisseurs and has trawled all manner of written sources. The result is a definitive and indispensable guide, containing more than 6,000 expressions and over 15,000 definitions from the English-speaking world.

Pirate-o-pedia AGes 8+ KS2-Book Price:  £7.99  Ahoy there! Take a journey to the secret world of pirates Prepare your eye patch and polish your sword — you’re about to board the wildest ship on the seven seas! When you return from this time-travel journey, you’ll have encountered every cruel cutthroat, visited every piratical place, and fought in every bloody battle from the beginning of pirate time to this very day. If you’re thorough, you’ll have read all the classic pirate stories from Treasure Island to Kidnapped!, plundered sinister stickers, solved the clues on the fold out treasure map and unearthed a secret online prize! So gather your wits, young pirate, and brush up on your seafaring skills —we’d like you to come back without a peg leg. (You can keep the parrot.) It’s a pirate adventure – are you brave enough to take it?

Ages 8+, The Total Volunteering Book Price:  £6.99  Aimed at teenagers this is a guide to volunteering in the United Kingdom. It describes what you can get out of it, choosing the right job, making the first contact, funding and rights. The main directory section provides the names and addresses of all major volunteering organisations in the UK as well as others that are less well known and offer more unusual opportunities. Organised under key areas of interest, this guide covers work with animals, children, the elderly, human rights, people with disabilities, the environment and international aid.;It includes who to contact in your locality, the expected commitment, age restrictions, jobs on offer and individual and group opportunities.

Challenges for Children-Ages 5-9-Book Price:  £12.95  Developed from an infant problem-solving day, this is a book of totally open-ended problems for young children. For example: ‘If we all held hands could we reach all the way round the school?’ ‘How many people could stand on a piece of paper?’ A book of activities that make children think like mathematicians, using and developing their problem-solving skills to a very real purpose. Reproducible. Ages 5-9 claire

Wollygoggles and other Creatures-Book-Ages 8-13 Price:  £12.95  One of the great problem solving books of all time, printed for the first time in the UK. Wollygoggles and other Creatures lead children a lovely dance on search of pattern in a whole range of investigations in number, shape and language. A must for all problem solving classrooms.

1000 Inventions and Discoveries-Ages 8+KS2 Price:  £9.99  From electricity to the Eurostar, find out how discoveries and inventions have changed the world we live in Ever wondered who invented the Internet or your iPod? Published in association with the Science Museum, 1000 Inventions and Discoveries explores the fascinating history of events that shaped the world as it is today. A timeline runs throughout the book, putting events in context Feature boxes focus on the more significant inventions in detail Supports National Curriculum Science at Key Stage 2 Relive those "Eureka" moments; from the discovery of fire right up to present day research into genetic engineering.

Black's Concise Atlas of Human Anatomy -Book Price:  £12.99  This unique atlas of virtual anatomy images contains over 175 full-colour, digitally-enhanced illustrations, created by the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project(tm). Images are accompanied by clear explanatory text relating structure to function. The book covers all major systems of the body, including the Integumentary System, the Skeletal System, the Muscular System, the Nervous System, the Endocrine System, the Cardiovascular System, the Respiratory System. The Digestive System, the Urinary System and the Reproductive System.

Creative Challenges-Book-Ages 6-13 Price:  £1,521.63  (Including: VAT at 17.5%) Creative Challenges moves on from Creative Thinking with more original and challenging activities to enhance children’s creativity and thinking skills. Name all the good things about coming to school? According to your parents what are the worst things you do? According to you what are the worst things you do? Think of the happiest people you know. What makes them happy? And much much more. Another brilliant book of ideas to make learning fun and productive.

Lemmings Don't Leap-Book Price:  £7.79  Did you know: Sherlock Holmes never wore a deerstalker Saladin was not an Arab Keith Moon did not drive a Rolls-Royce into a swimming pool Hitler did not snub Jesse Owens The book also shoots down a number of myths in the "so bizarre it’s got to be true" category: Charles Manson did not audition for the Monkees Walter Sickert was not Jack the Ripper Albert Camus did not play in goal for Algeria This amusing and informative book explodes dozens of fondly-held beliefs, from the serious to the frivolous. 180 short articles consider the evidence for many generally accepted "facts" about the natural world, famous people and historical figures, food and drink, literary characters and much more.

Whitaker's World of Facts -Book Price:  £23.49  (Including: VAT at 17.5%) Fully updated and revised for 2007, this single volume family reference book comes from the publishers of the renowned Whitaker’s Almanack. It combines the most up-to-date, ‘must have’ information on every important subject on earth, with lashings of fact files and world record-breakers and Russell Ash’s compelling ‘top ten’ style lists — all lavishly illustrated with full colour photographs. Hugely entertaining and informative in equal measure, this book is a superb reference title for all the family.

Do Dolphins Ever Sleep? Price:  £9.99  211 Questions and Answers About Ships, the Sea and the Sky by Pierre-Yves Bely, Sally Bely Why is the sea salty? How does the wind create waves? If ice is transparent, why are icebergs white? Why are cold seas green and warm seas blue? Why don’t rope strands untwist? Why does a dinghy slide backwards as you try to climb out? Why do the sun and moon sometimes have halos? Why do barnacles attach themselves to boat hulls? Do Dolphins Ever Sleep? provides the most astonishing answers to a whole range of fascinating questions you may have wondered about or may never even have thought of asking!