Pick Me Up: Stuff You Need to Know...

In the spirit of fun learning, PICK ME UP treats kids to a fun look at the world. A reader can look up one subject, read about it, then flip to a related topic by following a bold-faced word followed by a page number. General knowledge groups are color-coded to help users locate areas of interest. For a better idea of how this book works, I'll provide an example (page numbers subject to change). I want to read about marine life. Under "Where to find stuff" at the beginning, I find "Oceans" under "The Natural World," color-coded light blue. I go to page 202, as listed in the finder. I read an article about how humans affect the ocean. In the article, I see "dolphins 130" in bold. I love dolphins, so I turn to that page. This brings me to "Which Animal is Man's Best Friend?" Cats, dogs, horses, elephants, rats and dolphins each get their say. I see that dogs help find "avalanche 074" victims, so now I'm curious about avalanches. I learn about Mount Kilimanjaro, how to survive an avalanche, and tectonic plates. Mountains are natural water towers, and water can be used to generate "electricity 300," so off I go to learn about electricity and magnetism... and so on. It's easy to go on like this for hours. PICK ME UP is entertaining and educational. The value of this book is in showing kids that everything is connected. Articles don't go into great depth, but the beauty here is that these "teaser" articles will inspire kids to seek out other resources so they can learn more about it. This process is akin to learning along a random train of thought. "Oh, that looks interesting... Hey, I didn't know `x' had anything to do with `y.'" Some kids may even develop a passionate interest based on something they discover while flipping through this book. This developing sense of interconnectivity is important in teaching kids to look at the world with a more dynamic perspective. If your kid is bored or playing too many video games, have them pick this one up. They won't admit it, but they'll enjoy every minute. Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer 11/01/2006

Gone are the days of boring, cumbersome, and, ultimately, not all that helpful encyclopedias. The new king of interesting resource information is here, and it's called PICK ME UP. Everything you've ever wanted to know about just about anything (and maybe even some stuff you didn't even know you wanted to know!) is included in the 300+ pages of this book. Although there are eight actual categories included in PICK ME UP--Science, Technolgy, and Space; Society, Places, and Beliefs; History; The Natural World; People Who Made the World; Arts, Entertainment, and Media; You and Your Body; Planet Earth--this book is actually hard to categorize. There are numerous ways to find the information you need, from browsing one of the aforementioned categories, to cross-referencing individual pages, to using the index, or simply picking a page at random to begin your quest for knowledge. For instance, did you know that Albert Einstein's brain was actually different in width and shape than those of us who claim to be not-so-smart geniuses? It's true! Or how about the fact that the Vikings were expert ice-skaters? Or even that a "jamon" is an entire leg of ham--the best of which comes from a pig who has been fed nothing but acorns. Seriously, I'm not making any of this up! It's all there, right in the pages of PICK ME UP. Amazingly enough, my nearly ten-year-old son, who usually has to be tied to a chair and threatened with having his video games taken away to even look at a book, found plenty to hold his interest within the pages of PICK ME UP. Sure, he seemed to have a knack for finding the weirdest and grossest facts inside the book, but to me this was still considered an accomplishment. Take my word for it--PICK ME UP is the reference king, and you'd do well to add a copy to your home library. Who knows? You just might learn something. Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

If you are someone who considers yourself an information junky then "Pick Me Up," is a book you will enjoy. It would be easy to say this is a book just for kids or teens, but Pick Me Up is a book that parents and educators will find useful and interesting as well. The full color book is so interesting and such eye candy that teens will want to close the lid on their laptops to check out this book. The book is broken into 8 different subject areas- Science, Technology & Space Society, Places and Beliefs History The Natural World People Who Made The World Arts, Entertainment and media You and your body Planet Earth Each content rich section includes a ton of useful information. From the planets to the country with the largest democracy, there is so much good stuff in this book, one cannot afford to let this gem pass them by. It seems as if no stone is left unturned. More than anything this is a really fun book. If reading the almanac or Guiness Book of World Records tickles your fancy, Pick Me Up is one book facts that will keep you occupied for months to come.

Bought this for my 8 year old son. He has been toting it around for days, reading at the breakfast table... This is so full of fun and interesting information. Very global, very current,, very cool.