Politics for Beginners
Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Category:
We're giving away three copies of Politics for Beginners by Louie Stowell, Alex Frith, Rosie Hore and Kellan Stover (illustrator), published by Usborne Books, to UK schools - to help you answer the questions your children might be asking...
To enter the free draw for one of three copies, email the title to: [email protected] together with your school's postal details. To follow is a review of Politics for Beginners and a link to a blog by the authors explaining how they approached the book. Review: I have been anticipating the release of Politics for Beginners for quite some time and was not disappointed! This book answers the tough questions with just the right balance of humour and fact and simplifies extremely tricky concepts without talking down to its audience. Politics for Beginners is an especially important book in these politically charged times in that it helps children (and adults) to understand politics throughout the world and prepares them for difficult decisions in the future while encouraging them - in a positive way - to get involved. The colour palette of the illustrations is delightful and the cartoon/comic strip style does nothing to detract from this easy-to-understand guide. Some of the highlights for me were: the debating tips, internet links, the 'what can I do?' page and basically chapter 6 in its entirety. Focussed as it was on 'Big Questions', this chapter covered issues such as: human rights, terrorism, freedom of speech, the media in politics, immigration and feminism. I think this book is essential reading for children aged nine and above and would be particularly useful for any parent, teacher, librarian etc. who has ever been asked about those sensitive issues that they may find difficult to discuss with those ever-curious youngsters. 128 pages / Ages 9+ / Reviewed by Rhiannon Cook, school librarian.
