I am a big believer in giving kids access to books, and by books I don’t just mean fictional stories to read I also been factual books, books that inform and build a solid foundation of knowledge. I have always been able to find interesting History books and last year I managed to get two good Science books for my daughter but Geography was a tough one. I have picked up a few books but nothing that seemed comprehensive. That was until I spotted this Gem – Help Your Kids With Geography by DK. Now straight away on the cover it says the book is aimed at KS3 and KS4 but I actually think if you have a kid in Upper KS2 who is interested in Geography then this book would also be great for them and parents (Yip I am finding this book both fascinating and VERY helpful).

It is styled in what I view as the typical DK format – lots of quality images (both illustrated and photographed) with facts around the images.

We like this format. My kids find it engaging and interesting without being overwhelmed by massive amounts of endless writing (really suits visual learners).

Each topic tends to cover a double page and the information is separated into blocks. They have also included a really useful block at the top called See Also – and this directs you to other linked pages (I love this little block).

They have broken the book down into 3 sections – Physical Geography, Human Geography and Practical Geography. And in terms of what they cover under each section it is A LOT – too much for me to try and list out so instead I am going to include two photographs of the contents to show you.

I am not a Geography whizz but that looks very comprehensive to me and everything that I know we need to cover in our Geography is included. We naturally prefer the Physical Geography side and I have read the pages on tectonic plates, rivers, glaciers, erosion and all of those pages reinforced what we knew and added in extra information and understanding. I tend to get a bit nervous about the Human Geography side (I just find it easier to explain the earth geography) and already the Human Geography pages have helped to settle my nervousness about it. Practical Geography is something I know we need to work on this year so I had a look at the pages that I need and already I found a number of diagrams that explained the concept far better than I ever would have.

So how do we use this book? The main reason why I like books like this is for further reading. So if we are covering Volcanoes in our student book I will ask my daughter to go and read the linked pages in this book.

Why do we do that? Simply put it helps to cement the understanding of a topic if we read about it in another source, using different words and pictures to explain. Just seeing something more than once in a different wording helps to REALLY understand the topic. And often reading something a second time answers small lingering questions or uncertainties.

We would recommend this book for anyone doing Geography in KS3 and KS4 (and possibly younger kids – my son who is in Year 6 will find this book just as useful as his older sister who is Year 9). And I would also recommend this book for parents and home educators, who like me may need to do a bit of “reading-up”.

For those you want it here is an Amazon link for the book Help Your Kids with Geography, Ages 10-16 (Key Stages 3-4): A Unique Step-by-Step Visual Guide, Revision and Reference

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