{Book Review} MK Junior Encyclopedia!

My little Captain received this MK Junior Encyclopedia as his birthday present last year, and gosh, how he enjoys reading this book over and over again. It's a really interesting book and I would like you to know why..

MK Junior Encyclopedia

So, What Do We Like about this Book?

Firstly, the book cover comes with a 3D layer where the images "move" as you tilt the book. It captures the kiddos' interest before they even reading it's content.

It's full colored and full of interesting picture and illustration to keep the kids interested. The content is brief and layout makes it interesting & easy to read for the little ones - not too wordy, not too dry. It has many "Quick Facts" and "Fun Quiz" on each chapter that my little Captain really likes. 

Apart from the colorful print, it covers quite a vast topic from Mysterious Space, Deadly Dinosaurs, Active Earth, Wild Weather, Ancient Egypt, Birds & Mammals, Knights & Castles, Super Science; there is surely a topic or two that your little ones will like.

If there is one thing that I dislike about this book, it's the weight. It is really thick and heavy and I guess it weigh nearly 1kg. So don't bother bringing it for travel, just keep it at home. However, most encyclopedia are thick and bulky, aren't they? ;-)

A few of my little Captain's favorite chapters..

• Mysterious Space.  The Sun, the moon, the planet Earth. The stars, the galaxy... We started on this chapter and my boy was hooked instantly that he refused to sleep just so that he can read the entire chapter! He was able to name all the planet and even gave the daddy a quiz over dinner the next day, testing if daddy knows what is the smallest planet in the galaxy (the answer? Mercury. Pluto was once the smallest planet until it's disqualified as a planet).

Learning about Earth

• Deadly Dinosaurs. Which kids not fascinated by these huge mammals that longer exist? Why dinosaurs died? can dinosaurs fly? Why are the front legs so tiny? My little Captain had ton of questions and I'm just glad that answers are available in the book! ;-)

• Active Earth. How is ocean created? What caused to volcano? Where does the lava came from? Things that I don't know how to explain precisely till I have this book which provide the illustration to better explain it. 

Comes with suggested activities in each chapter

• Ancient Egypt. Pyramid, Sphinx, Pharaoh, mummies, Nile, anthologist are what this chapter is about. He learnt about Pyramid, Sphinx & Nile river from the Little Einstein series when he was about 2.5 yo, so when he saw the word "Egypt" in the table of content he was so excited and requested to jump to this chapter directly. He kept making noise as we were on this chapter... "Look, the Nile river! where the naughty crocodile lives!", "The Pyramid, just like the one in the Little Einstein!". 

Bedtime was so much fun, thanks to this encyclopedia.

How to get kids interested in reading?

Some of my friends complained their kiddos do not like reading, only likes to flip the pages but no patient in reading... here's some of the techniques I deployed.

Make it RELEVANT
Kids will be more interested if they read about something that they can relate to. For example what makes my little boy so fascinated about the Dinosaur chapter? We got him few small dinosaur figurines as his bath toys, one of which is T-Rex and another that we named it "Spiky". He was so excited when he saw his dino appeared in the book and be able to learn more about them.

Make it FUN! 
Don't read the encyclopedia word by word. Make it alive like you have all these objects right in front of your eyes, read with excitement and expression. Get the kiddos enter the world of imagination with you and you may be amazed how much they enjoy reading.

Make it a CHALLENGE!
Many toddlers love challenge or race, they have the urge to proof that they are not small kids anymore and that they know things. So, after reading each chapter just give an instant quiz, you may have an excited kid who may try so hard to find the answer and keep asking for more quiz. Start with an easy one, like, what is the hottest star in the Solar system?

You may read the review of the book here, and our copy was purchased from Popular bookstore.

Happy reading!

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