Thirty Days Has September

Review also includes:

Off with their Heads, Martin Oliver, ill. Andrew Pinder, 978-1780551340 (***)

Two busy paperback editions of earlier hardbacks from Buster Books, guaranteed to help instil important facts into the long-term memory.  Thirty Days is full of useful tips to help avoid spelling slip-ups and maths mistakes.  There are mnemonics to cover everything from planets to grammar, rhymes to remember history dates and an especially useful section on maths, including times tables and geometry.  Off with their Heads canters through British history from Ancient Britons to the 2012 Olympic Games.  World War II is despatched in a mere six pages, about the same extent as that devoted to Henry VIII’s wives.  The text is brief description rather than lists of facts, but the chronological approach will be a useful support for Michael Gove’s new history curriculum.  Line artwork with speech bubbles injects a degree of humour.  Two useful additions for the Back to School list.