Book Review of Weird But True New York City: 300 Bizarre Facts About The Big Apple
The Children’s Book Review

Written by National Geographic Kids

Ages 8-12 | 208 Pages

Publisher: National Geographic Kids | ISBN-13: 9781426372322

What to expect: Information, Trivia, Culture

Weird But True New York City: 300 Bizarre Facts About The Big Apple is a fun book of factoids that can lead to many interesting conversations.

Kids love surprising facts—“hundreds of humpback whales swim through New York Harbor every year”—and parents love remembering they love them too. Something compellingly useless about knowing that “10,000 people an hour view Macy’s holiday window displays” is difficult to put into words. What kind of relationship to knowledge is expressed by the excitement felt to learn that “a book that President Washington checked out from a New York City library was returned 221 years late”? I’m not sure, but it has something to do with excitement and the vastness of the things there are to know—and how fun it is to share knowledge and pass on this excitement to others.

If you live in New York City, it can be fun to recognize places and these weird facts about them, but anyone planning a trip to the city or anyone who enjoys books that stir conversation can get a lot out of this book, too. The great thing is that, via the fun facts, so many subjects are touched on—history, art, nature, geography—that each page has a way of leading the conversation out and into other interesting places.

The book’s format is small and portable; each page has a compelling illustration and a single, weird fact. It would lend itself well to car and airplane trips, restaurants, subways—anywhere that might not be perfect for a narrative book but is a good occasion to dip into a book for a little while.

Although I’m only familiar with the New York City iteration, it’s worth noting that the National Geographic Weird But True series touches on a plethora of subjects—from the human body to dinosaurs, sports, and pretty much anything else you can imagine capturing a child’s attention. There’s lots to explore here from a great institution that’s worth having your child become familiar with, too.

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Weird But True New York City: 300 Bizarre Facts About The Big Apple by National Geographic Kids was reviewed by Trevor Laurence Jockims. Discover more books like Weird But True New York City: 300 Bizarre Facts About The Big Apple by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with facts, information, New York City, and culture.