We’re all invited to the Palace of Facts by the creators of Factopia! (Writer Kate Olesin and Illustrator Andy Smith).
This is another 400-entry celebration of facts, this time inspired by the idea of a memory palace. Readers can travel through a palace filled with magnificent rooms and gardens, where the world’s most mind-bending facts are on display.
The Review:
This book is a much larger format than the Factopia series, which are almost pocket-sized. (Admittedly, only in the same way my school Collins Pocket-Sized Dictionary was “pocket” sized. It always amused me that the creator of my dictionary appeared not to know the definition of “pocket.”) The Palace of Facts is a bigger-than-A3-paper hardback, with almost 100 pages of facts to explore.
This larger size gives Andy Smith more breathing space for his artwork, which certainly pays dividends. The conceit of the book is that we’re touring the titular palace. Each double-page spread represents a stop on that tour, whether that be a standard palace chamber, such as the Dining Room, Library or Grand Ballroom or something a little more fanciful, such as the Menagerie, Alchemy Lab or even the Dungeon.
There’s some outside space too. With forests, farms and stables to explore, as well as gardens with a maze and a glasshouse. Each location, and I counted 41, has a slew of facts that are broadly related to the room in which we find ourselves. So when at the gates, we can find out about the first ever gate keys, or entrances to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. In the ballroom, we can learn of the world’s largest chicken dance.
Unlike the Factopia books, each fact is not interconnected with the next one. They are, however, broadly themed. There are no shortcuts between facts to different points in the book, but nevertheless, this is a book that can be jumped in and out of at random.
The Palace of Facts does not have to be read from the first page to the last, but of course, you can if you want to. It opens with a fun maze you can trace your finger around, and then a contents page in the form of a map of the palace, for those who want to jump to a particular room.
The Palace of Facts is another What on Earth triumph. They are very good at marrying art with information to create captivating books that draw their readers in and entice them to stay. I’m by no means the target audience for this book, but I spent a lot longer than I intended perusing the book, ahead of writing this review, because the combination of facts and illustrations was so addictive.
It seems weird to be thinking about Christmas when I’m stuck writing this, in the middle of a heatwave, but if, come December, you’re looking for something a little different for the youngsters in your life, you should definitely consider giving them a tour around The Palace of Facts.
If you would like to pick up a copy of The Palace of Facts, you can do so here.
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here. An alternate version of this review appears on my own gardening and book blog PotsandPlots
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
