ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 14th October 2016 - "Highest Mountain, Deepest Ocean" by Kate Baker and Page Tsou (Big Picture Press)

Our First Book of the Week this week once again proves that children's Non-Fiction titles are experiencing the most incredible golden age...
It feels like only a few short years ago that we were bemoaning the serious lack of amazing children's non-fiction titles out there. Everything felt a bit too 'schooly' and it was quite difficult to find publishers willing to put together really awesome mainstream non-fiction titles with broad appeal.

Big Picture Press came along shortly afterwards, and the rest is history. If one imprint can be described as the publisher truly pushing the quality bar sky-high for non fiction, it has to be Big Picture Press.

Enough gushing about them, they have a new book once again taking on the big hardback format that their titles are synonymous with. In "Highest Mountain, Deepest Ocean" by Kate Baker and Page Tsou, presentation is key. Described on the cover as "A pictorial compendium of natural wonders" it is indeed like having your own version of the Natural History Museum in London tucked between the covers of an awesome book.

The world is presented as the stage for amazing animal species, stunning plants and of course the natural wonders of the earth itself - as the book title suggests, delving into the deepest seas and scaling the highest heights of mountain tops to serve up subject matter in an authoritative and brilliantly engaging way.

The largest animals on land and at sea. Just an example of the stunning spreads throughout this book. 

Kate's descriptions are almost poetic at times, and Page Tsou's amazing illustrations hark back to the victorian gravures and etchings of days gone by, feeling instantly like the sort of glorious illustrations you'd find in encyclopaedias from the late 19th and early 20th century...

Brilliant presentation throughout makes this a thoroughly engaging and gorgeous looking book

Exquisite detail in both written and visual forms within the book really help children engage with the subject matter, ensuring they'll return to this again and again for class projects, homework, or just for the sheer fun of browsing through a really interesting "big book".

More stunning illustrations around animal migrations. Who roams the furthest? 

It's destined to be a huge hit in the run-up to Christmas when you can well imagine a lot of parents and grandparents eyeing this one up as a potential stocking filler (assuming you have very very big stockings, this is a book to be lolled around on the floor with for sure!)

We loved it, we love what Big Picture Press are doing and we just can't get enough of this amazing non-fiction revival going on at the moment.

Charlotte's favourite bit: Learning all about animal habitats and homes.

Daddy's favourite bit: Brilliantly informative text perfectly complimented by glorious classical-style illustrations, it's the sort of book that deserves to win truckloads of awards. Utterly and completely stunning.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Big Picture Press)

"Highest Mountain, Deepest Ocean" 

Written by Kate Baker

Illustrated by Page Tsou

Published by Big Picture Press

Publication Date: 6th October 2016