I am always trying to get my nine-year-old daughter Amanda to take advantage of some of the fantastic non-fiction books that I’ve received to review. Well, I did not have to coax her to preview Smart-opedia: The Amazing Book about Everything. She immediately grabbed it and searched the easy-to-use index and found the numerous pages that mention her current passion–penguins. After she sated that knowledge, she pretty much read it through cover to cover.

It is truly a captivating book–the illustrations are bright and whimsical and the information is presented in comic book-type text or chunks that are easily digestible. The study softcover makes it easy to read and carry, yet seems like it will stand up to some heavy use.

In honor of a successful trial from a target user, I am letting Amanda, age nine, post her own review:

I loved this book. It has tons of facts and is very, well, SMART. As it says on the cover, it IS an amazing book about everything! I’ll list all the categories:

1. History
2. Animals
3. Astronomy
4. Plants
5. Science
6. Earth
7. Arts
8. Technology
9. Today’s World
10. Human Body

I know–a lot: 10 whole categories and 214 pages, including the index. I really recommend this for school projects. It’s like a kids’ encyclopedia, a put-in-your-pocket school book of 1000 wonders for kids and more!! Now I’ll say it again–It’s Amazing!! It’s Great!! It’s Colossal!!!!

I would recommend this book for ages 7 – 12, and even though it’s an information book, you can even just read it through. I did.

So, there you have it–an enthusiastic thumbs-up from an avid reader who usually prefers fiction. The publisher has donated one copy to a U.S. or Canadian reader. Please leave a comment by Sunday to enter, and come back next week to see if you have won.

The response to the giveaway of Just Jane and the Pride and Prejudice Insight Edition was incredible–over 230 of you wanted to win, but unfortunately only one can. I hope that the rest of you will look for it in your local bookstore or click through the above links to buy a copy today. I think you’ll be glad you did.

The winner is #36, Michele at Life in the Old Pueblo