Britannica Group, Britannica’s Five Minute Really True Stories for Family Time, Britannica Books, January 2022, 192 pp., RRP $29.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781913750374
Britannica Books have previously released 5 Minute Really True Stories for Bedtime and this book follows the same format; a compendium of short non-fiction stories written for young children about a variety of topics, a beginner Encyclopaedia.
The stories are mainly based around everyday family activities and places such as breakfast time, playing outdoors. bicycle riding and holidays. The latter section of the book extends this theme to stories about animal families and their activities. The topics are well chosen for their relatability to most young children. However, I did feel whilst there was recognition of a variety of cultures the overall view was quite middle-class and perhaps exclusive of different social groups and families.
The ‘stories’ are not your traditional beginning, middle, end – rather they are a brief introduction to each topic exploring its history, examples in different countries, explanatory paragraphs, and interesting facts. The text is conversational and written at a suitable level for lower primary children to read and/understand. An inclusion of a glossary helps to explain technical terms.
Although there are several illustrators, the simple, bright, and engaging images combine seamlessly and provide interesting detail to the text.
5 Minute Really True Stories for Family Time would be a useful resource to introduce curious young learners to new concepts gradually based on their existing knowledge. The short explanatory text about familiar topics provides a good level of elaboration and extension.
Reviewed by Julie Bertola
