Pick Me Up |  | Authors: Jeremy Leslie, David Roberts
Publisher: DK CHILDREN
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $1.99
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Seller: best_bargain_books3
Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 95918
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 8.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0756621593
Dewey Decimal Number: 031
EAN: 9780756621599
ASIN: 0756621593
Publication Date: September 25, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Just try to put Pick Me Up down--we dare you. Like surfing the Web, it's alarmingly easy to lose oneself in this heavy compendium of "stuff you need to know." It's even designed with Internet-savvy readers in mind. Once you get beyond the dizzying lenticular cover, open to any page. After gawking at the many bright, sharp photos, illustrations, charts, and caption sunbursts, dig in to the meat: blocks (and triangles and circles) of text about everything from how to confuse an angry seagull to a history of medicine to Germany's exports and imports to an exploration of the meaning of life. As you read along, you'll come across underlined and bold-faced words with a page number following. These are the cross references that will send you flying from page to page, ever deeper into understanding the topic du jour. In the spread about wheels, for example, theres a highlighted reference to "Inca, Aztec, and Mayan civilizations 298." Turn to page 298 and start reading about pyramids and lost cities
then get sidetracked by "fight 154." Suddenly youre into "rappers 306" and "immune system 86." Get the picture? Students won't necessarily be able to write entire school reports from Pick Me Up, but they will certainly be able to pepper their papers--and conversation--with unusual and useful facts. Kids and grownups alike will happily spend hours browsing Pick Me Up, always finding something new to marvel over. --Emilie Coulter
Product Description
Teens, parents, teachers, and readers of all ages: It's time for a reference-book revolution! And PICK ME UP is here to do just that-revolutionize the way kids and teens learn about history, science, nature, and culture outside of the classroom. Taking cues from the internet, video games, and television, PICK ME UP appeals to modern kids and teens. The book is organized like a miscellany, inspired by the internet, styled like a video game, and informed by pop culture. It's filled with fun information about history science, nature, geography and culture-everything kids want and need to know.
With a completely fun and modern design, a dizzying lenticular cover (because readers DO choose books by their covers!), and smart, witty writing, PICK ME UP appeals to voracious AND reluctant readers.
"We dare you not to pick up this reference book-gone-pop-art . . . . This TIP pick will turn even internet junkies into captivated readers." --Newsweek ". . . It's like a great Web search: It takes you places you weren't headed, but are glad to have visited." Wired Magazine "The title is an invitation; the challenge will be putting the book down." Publishers Weekly
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
What A Fun Book! October 9, 2006
Dorrie Wheeler
24 out of 24 found this review helpful
If you are someone who considers yourself an information junky then "Pick Me Up," is a book you will enjoy. It would be easy to say this is a book just for kids or teens, but Pick Me Up is a book that parents and educators will find useful and interesting as well. The full color book is so interesting and such eye candy that teens will want to close the lid on their laptops to check out this book.
The book is broken into 8 different subject areas-
Science, Technology & Space
Society, Places and Beliefs
History
The Natural World
People Who Made The World
Arts, Entertainment and media
You and your body
Planet Earth
Each content rich section includes a ton of useful information. From the planets to the country with the largest democracy, there is so much good stuff in this book, one cannot afford to let this gem pass them by. It seems as if no stone is left unturned. More than anything this is a really fun book.
If reading the almanac or Guiness Book of World Records tickles your fancy, Pick Me Up is one book facts that will keep you occupied for months to come.
Hard to Put Down! November 1, 2006
Wantz Upon A Time Reviews (Chicago)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful
In the spirit of fun learning, PICK ME UP treats kids to a fun look at the world. A reader can look up one subject, read about it, then flip to a related topic by following a bold-faced word followed by a page number. General knowledge groups are color-coded to help users locate areas of interest.
For a better idea of how this book works, I'll provide an example (page numbers subject to change).
I want to read about marine life. Under "Where to find stuff" at the beginning, I find "Oceans" under "The Natural World," color-coded light blue. I go to page 202, as listed in the finder. I read an article about how humans affect the ocean. In the article, I see "dolphins 130" in bold. I love dolphins, so I turn to that page. This brings me to "Which Animal is Man's Best Friend?" Cats, dogs, horses, elephants, rats and dolphins each get their say. I see that dogs help find "avalanche 074" victims, so now I'm curious about avalanches. I learn about Mount Kilimanjaro, how to survive an avalanche, and tectonic plates. Mountains are natural water towers, and water can be used to generate "electricity 300," so off I go to learn about electricity and magnetism... and so on.
It's easy to go on like this for hours. PICK ME UP is entertaining and educational. The value of this book is in showing kids that everything is connected. Articles don't go into great depth, but the beauty here is that these "teaser" articles will inspire kids to seek out other resources so they can learn more about it. This process is akin to learning along a random train of thought. "Oh, that looks interesting... Hey, I didn't know `x' had anything to do with `y.'" Some kids may even develop a passionate interest based on something they discover while flipping through this book.
This developing sense of interconnectivity is important in teaching kids to look at the world with a more dynamic perspective. If your kid is bored or playing too many video games, have them pick this one up. They won't admit it, but they'll enjoy every minute.
Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
11/01/2006
Courtesy of Teens Read Too October 19, 2006
TeensReadToo.com (All Over the US & Canada)
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
Gone are the days of boring, cumbersome, and, ultimately, not all that helpful encyclopedias. The new king of interesting resource information is here, and it's called PICK ME UP. Everything you've ever wanted to know about just about anything (and maybe even some stuff you didn't even know you wanted to know!) is included in the 300+ pages of this book.
Although there are eight actual categories included in PICK ME UP--Science, Technolgy, and Space; Society, Places, and Beliefs; History; The Natural World; People Who Made the World; Arts, Entertainment, and Media; You and Your Body; Planet Earth--this book is actually hard to categorize. There are numerous ways to find the information you need, from browsing one of the aforementioned categories, to cross-referencing individual pages, to using the index, or simply picking a page at random to begin your quest for knowledge.
For instance, did you know that Albert Einstein's brain was actually different in width and shape than those of us who claim to be not-so-smart geniuses? It's true! Or how about the fact that the Vikings were expert ice-skaters? Or even that a "jamon" is an entire leg of ham--the best of which comes from a pig who has been fed nothing but acorns. Seriously, I'm not making any of this up! It's all there, right in the pages of PICK ME UP.
Amazingly enough, my nearly ten-year-old son, who usually has to be tied to a chair and threatened with having his video games taken away to even look at a book, found plenty to hold his interest within the pages of PICK ME UP. Sure, he seemed to have a knack for finding the weirdest and grossest facts inside the book, but to me this was still considered an accomplishment. Take my word for it--PICK ME UP is the reference king, and you'd do well to add a copy to your home library. Who knows? You just might learn something.
Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"
Aimed at 4th to 8th Graders, But Daddy will like it too March 21, 2007
John Matlock (Winnemucca, NV)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Just where else you find out 'Why the Roman Empire is like McDonald's.' (Answer: Both are set world domination.) And then to find two pages that talk about Rome and McDonalds comparing the two organizations. Strange but I had never thought of comparing them. Let's see, Rome had some 645,000 troops, McD's has 1.5 million employees. Hmmmm! This is beginning to make sense. Then on most pages you find a Link - a hyperlink like you have on the web, that takes you somewhere else.
And most of the pages are like this. You want to read about the Beatles, or find five places that have more sheep than people. And who were the kings and Quees of Denmark (No, Hamlet wasn't really one of them, but then again, he was a Prince.)
Anyway, that should give you the idea. This is a random, off beat, marvelous encyclopedia (I guess you'd call it). It's done like modern kids TV, short, quick and hyperlinked.
While intended for kids somewhere around the 4th to eighth grade, daddy might find it fairly fascinating as well.
FUN FUN FUN and COOL COOL COOL (plus you learn a lot along the way) October 6, 2006
Janice R. Alder (vienna, va)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Bought this for my 8 year old son. He has been toting it around for days, reading at the breakfast table... This is so full of fun and interesting information. Very global, very current,, very cool.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
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