There's a fantastic and rapidly growing branch of non-fiction that caters specifically for younger kids who still prefer amazing visual presentation mixed in with their facts and figures. In fact in "Underground" by Uijung Kim, the text is purposely kept to a minimum as we take a journey across the globe to visit all the amazing places that have built public transport systems underneath our feet.

From New York, to London, to Moscow, there are many locations around the world that use subways or underground railways to help folk get to work, visit their friends and families, or perhaps even indulge in a spot of street entertainment.

This fantastic and colourful book is cleverly designed to follow the styles of underground systems in different locations (yep, did you know most underground railways have their own particular 'brand' that's instantly recognisable once you get to know them?)

To help engage kids further, there's a fabulous spotting game on each page too - can you find all the hidden objects in each colourful and busy scene?

We loved this book, it cleverly uses brilliant and yet simple design to convey the excitement of riding the underground (weirdly aside from the Northern and Victoria Lines, it's one of the things I miss most about living in London).

Sum this book up in a sentence: A fab little book this, and another brilliant title in Cicada's increasingly essential early years non-fic range.

"Underground: Subways around the World" by Uijung Kim is out now, published by Cicada Books (kindly supplied for review). 

It's National Non-Fiction November, a month-long celebration of all the awesomeness to be found in Children's Non-Fiction titles.

We're huge fans of innovative, engaging and interesting non-fiction titles and Cicada Books have two stunning new titles to tempt you, filled to the brim with fascinating facts and awesome knowledge.

So let's dig under the earth for the superb "Earth Shattering Events - Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Cyclones, Tsunamis and other Natural Disasters" by Robin Jacobs and Sophie Williams.

Our earth is a fragile ecosystem, and when climate change, adverse weather conditions and the slow shift of land masses and tectonic plates are at their most active, spectacular and dangeous things can happen.

In "Earth Shattering Events" you'll learn about natural disasters, how they occur, what causes them and how we've come to adapt, overcome and survive these catastrophies. Digging into the science of geology and metrology, this book is anything but a light touch, providing fascinating insights into areas of science that aren't often covered in such exquisite detail in natural history books. Authoritatively written with fantastic colourful and engaging illustrations, it's a brilliant book for home or school projects.

"Earth Shattering Events" by Robin Jacobs and Sophie Williams is out now, published by Cicada Books. 

The second book in our in-depth review of awesome non-fiction titles from Cicada is "Gut Garden: A journey into the wonderful world of your Microbiome" by Katie Brosnan.

This time the fragile ecosystem in question is the one inside our own bodies. Have you ever wondered what happens between you eating your dinner and - er - it coming out of the other end? In between are your intestines - and an amazing ecosystem in microscopic form, comprising amazing life forms and friendly bacteria that all have a part to play in extracting all the goodness from your food to build your body strong and healthy.

The book delves into what these different bacteria do, which foods are great (and terrible) for your gut, and how to maintain a healthy balance to ensure everything runs smoothly.

This is a truly amazing little title, one that again we don't often see dealt with as a subject but it's brilliantly done so here, a perfect jumping-off point for kids to discover all sorts of amazing biological functions our bodies are capable of.

"Gut Garden" by Katie Brosnan is out now, published by Cicada Books (both titles kindly supplied for review)

Check out more awesome Cicada titles on their website here!

We're always instantly attracted to new picture books that have a bit of quirkiness and eccentricity about them, particularly if they present something original and fun.

"The Inner Child" by Henry Blackshaw absolutely sings out to all those parents who (like me) love messing around with lego with their kids, or getting messy with finger painting, or (ahem) love new toys and gadgets and absolutely MUST have them.

Henry's fun book presents this as a self-help manual for kids, informing them of a fact they may have completely missed. Inside every adult there is also a child - and quite often that child springs out at unexpected moments.

Sometimes our inner child expresses our fears and anxieties (but honestly, who could possibly be scared of such adorable kitty cats as the ones in this book?)

Sometimes people's inner children are horrible shouty poopy-butted monsters (again as deftly demonstrated by Henry in this book).

But above all, now and again, it's good to let our inner kids go on the rampage a bit. Have fun, enjoy life, and enjoy the world - you only get one shot at this so even if you get a second chance at enjoying a second childhood, you grumpy adults, just do that thing! A philosophy we can all get behind!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A quirky, original and brilliantly presented story of how we adults aren't always quite as grown up as we pretend to be.

"The Inner Child" by Henry Blackshaw is out now, published by Cicada Books (kindly supplied for review). 

If you're going to write a children's picture book about friendship, or about how being different can be cool, you'd better bring your A-Game because - to be quite honest - we see so many books with those core themes that they all begin to blur into one.

Thankfully in the case of "Iced Out" by CK Smouha and Isabella Bunnell, both author and artist have indeed brought their A-Game, delivering a nifty ocean-based tale of three distinctly different animals who soon realise that despite their appearance, they all have something in common.

Wilfred is a Walrus and Neville is a Narwhal and the two pals are in Miss Blubber's class. The only problem is that they do stick out like a sore thumb as they're the only two animals who aren't seals! Eep!

When Betty Beluga joins the class, she helps Wilf and Nev to realise their own potential. She's smart, funny and great at football (bet you didn't know that Belugas are brilliant at footie!) and though she might look a bit 'odd' compared to other whales, she never lets her appearance hold her back.

So can Wilfred and Neville discover their own unique talents and finally integrate and perhaps even become popular in school?

Kids will wholly identify what it feels like to be a bit of a fish out of water, and sometimes it feels like everyone else in school has something in common - and if you don't 'fit in' it can be a tough time, but this book rather stylishly shows that sometimes it takes others to recognise the awesomeness we secretly carry around with us all the time.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A brilliantly written and gorgeously illustrated life lesson that will help kids realise that 'different can be cool'

"Iced Out" by CK Smouha and Isabella Bunnell is out now, published by Cicada Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Here's a really fascinating little storybook, at once visually appealing but dive inside and you'll find a really original story too...

Oooh! Hello lovely new book! Let's take this fab little story for a spin, literally...!