A masterpiece of paper engineering and for all collectors of pop-up books, here are 20 flaps to lift and giant pop-ups, the first of which is a map of Ancient Egypt in a booklet entitled Africa on the inside front cover. Lift the flap to discover a tomb of treasure where pharaohs were buried in beautifully decorated tombs surrounded by possessions that they might need in the Afterlife. The next double page spread takes us right inside a big pop-up pyramid complete with flap to lift to see the chambers concealed within and mystery spaces where today mini robots have explored and found miniature doors at the ends. We learn that the Sphinx was carved from a single block of stone and is 73m long, about the length of five buses. There is a feature on making a mummy which took about 70 days and each step is described and illustrated and the role of gods and priests. Pull up more flaps as you turn each page, the next one is a spectacular Tutankhamun's Death Mask with an explanation that the Ancient Egyptians believed that the spirits of the dead return to their bodies each night and a face mask gave the spirits a way to recognise their own remains. There is the mummy's journey on the funeral and pull and lift more flaps from the pop-up to find hidden treasure, great and small. With a useful glossary, this is designed for Egyptologists aged 7-70. 16 huge pages, popping out, 24.5 x 32.7cm.
Click YouTube icon to see this book come to life on video.

The book quite literally opens with a triple gatefold, a beautiful artwork with short text telling an ancient tale where underneath a river lives a beautiful goddess using ancient stylised Chinese depictions, the noble train of horses and porters approached the mountain of Jing. In pale greens for lush grass, the mermaid figure has a green fish-scale back, an alluring goddess. "She's a light as a swallow in flight and as supple as a flying dragon. Her face is even more radiant than the chrysanthemums that bloom in autumn..." Another five page gatefold then unfurls in an exquisite Chinese artwork foldout showing the beautiful goddess decorated with fine jade and gold, she skips as she walks here and there picking flowers and magically plucks out reishi mushrooms. We are told that these were used for medicinal purposes throughout China. There are stylised carp fish with beautifully decorated scales, waterlilies peeping up with eyes at the surface, tendrils of flowers and swirling water. "My heart was filled with love, but at the same time I was afraid of being tricked." This ancient Chinese poem was created by Caoz Zhi in the period 220-280CE. He is returning from the capital to his own land when he stops at the Luo River for a rest where he instantly falls in love with the goddess. He sees a nymph of peerless beauty and is swept away by her ethereal beauty. We follow the dreamlike journey and even more four-page gatefold pullout pages in a truly entrancing tale. There are more gatefolds with six dragons in a procession and whales and the magic continues over all 78 very large colourful pages, 29.2 x 29.4cm. Designed for ages 9-12, this is more likely to be collected by interested adults. There is an explanation of all the mythical creatures at the end such as Nüwa and Bluefish and Yanzi. Colour.
Click YouTube icon to see this book come to life on video.

Michael Morpurgo writes about a Brodie helmet, A. L. Kennedy about a Verners Pattern compass, Tracy Chevalier about the Princess Mary Gift Fund Box, and others about a zeppelin bomb, a recruitment poster, a soldier's writing case, sheet music, a wartime butter dish, a Victoria Cross, school magazines and a little French toy soldier. It is a powerful collection of stories by bestselling authors, each inspired by a different object encompassing both world wars, the home front and the trenches, realism and imaginary friends. Morpurgo triggers tears, others write in blank verse, in the rhythm of jazz to relate the experience of a horn player from Harlem and Jim Kay's angular illustrations convey both atmosphere and fact. A big hardback heavyweight publication, 304pp, well illus. Designed for ages 9-12 years or for all interested in military matters. 21.5 x 17cm.

A powerful and moving collection of first person accounts, contributors include a rear gunner who took part in 60 bombing raids, a Jewish woman who played in the orchestra at Auschwitz, a Japanese man who survived Hiroshima, and Sir Nicholas Winton who saved 669 children by setting up the Kindertransport programme from Czechoslovakia. RAF pilots, evacuees, Resistance fighters, land-girls, US Navy sailors all pass on the lessons learned to a new generation. Many of the interviews were conducted by children, and is designed for 9-14 year olds in this award-winning children's newspaper First News series. Presented with striking black and white contemporary photographs reproduced at full page size to really make you feel part of the story. Plus familiar images like Red Army soldiers raising the Soviet flag in Berlin 1945 and American infantrymen in Paris 1944. For all interested in military matters a big tribute in heavyweight softback, 320pp, 17.8 x 23cm. Hundreds of photos.

This quirky activity book for young children is based on drawing round your hands, feet, fingers and toes. Every large page offers a basic sketch together with suggestions as to how the child can create a complete picture, using crayons or felt tip to colour round and add other details. Reindeer Rock has an animal head without antlers, and these can ingeniously be supplied by drawing round each hand. The Finger-Finned Handfish is created by drawing round fingers for fins and a hand at the back for a wavy tail, while an open-mouthed shark needs finger shapes to create the desired snaggle-toothed effect. Drawing round your feet will provide a pair of penguins with bodies, and also provide a silhouette for parrots. The picture entitled Saying Hello to Mummy is completed by a single hand waving at the end of a long arm. Another page shows a pair of emus scampering across the picture and your hand shape can place a body on a third. The pages are on a tear-off pad so that children ages 4-8 can easily display their work or make a gift to the grown-ups. 32 pull-out colourful pages, softback.

32 pullout pages which introduces five essential expressions: happy, sad, angry, surprised and silly, each with a hole in the centre to put your face through, are guaranteed to be a hit with young children. The pictures are basic sketches which a child can make into a portrait by following a suggestion at the top of the page, providing the details of a scene that can be displayed on the wall or presented to adults. "Clowning Around" needs the young artist to "add really silly hair" and tell a joke. "To the Rescue" has the outline of a superhero swooping from the sky, and the child is prompted to create a story by inventing a superhero name, mimicking and drawing the character who is in danger, and creating a list of personal superpowers. The Hairy Hungry Caterpillar goes "munch munch" while the Puff Daddy Fish blows its cheeks out, with an opportunity for drawing marine companions and scary spikes. "Space Walk" needs a bit of imagination as to what outer space is like, while the suggested task is to "say hello in alien language". Baby to age 4. Colour, board book 32 pp.

The next generation of opera fans will love this attractive introduction to 15 of the world's greatest operas, from Mozart's Magic Flute to Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. The stories are told in detail, accompanied by lovely illustrations of the sort you used to find in children's fairy tale books. First up is Aida, Verdi's great opera set in ancient Egypt with rousing choruses and almost always presented with a spectacular set and costumes. Like many grand operas it ends with the heroic deaths of the main characters, but there is a lot of excitement en route. Amahl and the Night Visitors, by contrast, is a smaller scale retelling of the story of Christmas by Gian Carlo Menotti. Rossini's Barber of Seville is the prequel to Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, recounting Count Almaviva's romance with Rosina as he snatches her from the predatory attentions of Dr Bartolo with the help of his irrepressible manservant Figaro. La Boheme returns us to tragedy with the doomed love story of Rodolfo and Mimi, and includes several famous arias such as "Your tiny hand is frozen". Wagner is represented by his great life-affirming masterpiece The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, while Mozart's opera The Magic Flute takes us into the mystical realm of good and evil, though the Queen of the Night, famous for her stunning coloratura aria, turns out not to be so bad after all. The witch in Hansel and Gretel gets her comeuppance in Engelbert Humperdinck's jolly fairytale. Finally Gershwin's Porgy and Bess brought opera into new territory with the waterfront casinos of the southern states of America. Ages 7-12. 160pp, 27 x 24cm, softback, exquisite full-page colour paintings on many double spreads.

Ten cheeky, bouncy, noisy owls are playing in a tree. It's bedtime, but they're having far too much fun to go to sleep! Uh-oh. Will Mummy Owl ever convince all her little owlets to fly down to the nest? Learn to count from one to ten in this hilarious new counting book with gorgeous illustrations as well as fun peek-through pages and a useful counting guide. Tiny fingers will love popping them through the owl shapes and spotting the cats and berries and birds and bees and snails and spiders we meet along the branches of this sleepy time story book. 32 board pages, 18.7 x 28.7cm, ages 1-4 years.

Enjoy the thrill of being a real-life palaeontologist on your very own dino dig! Kit includes two archaeological bricks each containing a dinosaur fossil replica, one chisel, one dusting brush and a 48 page paperback. Chip away at each of the two rocks in this exciting pack with the chisel and dusting brush provided to reveal two roar-some discoveries - real dinosaur fossils and the hidden secrets of the prehistoric world. Learn about the fascinating world of dinosaurs as you explore fun facts, history and intriguing reasons for their extinction in the colourful 48 page book of facts softback enclosed with the pack. Thankfully there are phonetic pronunciations as we go through the glossary A-Z from Acrocanthosaurus to Zalmoxes. For each there is a meaning of the name like ancient god, how long ago they lived like 70-65 million years ago, period like Cretaceous, length up to 4.5 metres or 15 feet for example, weight 230kg or 500lbs, a diet of plants and a location like Europe (Romania).

Aimed at 7-9 year olds this most snappy and exhilarating introduction to the Ancient Egyptians provides bite-sized views into a range of topics in Davies' bold and distinctive illustrated style, coupled with his naturally dry humour. The book includes a double-sided poster in a distinctive bright yellow with black and white and red line art. Themes include the Nile and life on the river, family, clothes, hair and make-up, food and drink, peculiar pets, great royal wives and fabulous pharaohs, gods and goddesses, magic and medicine, temples and priests, mummification, animal mummies, the pyramids and the great Sphinx, graverobbers and discovering Tutankhamun and Egypt today. Big, bold, we love the way the Emperor Constantine slept with his teddy and we meet the horses at the chariot races. Playful artwork, vibrant and maximum fun. 64 pages, approximately 21cm square.