· 6 min read
Fun facts behind our six story worlds
Every kiddital book lives in one of six worlds: the forest, the ocean, space, the farm, the land of dinosaurs and the land of dreams. The stories are make-believe, but the worlds are full of real wonders. Here are our favorite true facts to share at bedtime, and the books that go with them.
1.Space: a planet that could float
- Did you know?Saturn is so light for its size that it is less dense than water. In a (very, very big) bathtub, it would float.
- Did you know?Saturn's rings are made mostly of chunks of water ice, some as small as dust and some as big as a house.
- Did you know?A comet's tail always points away from the Sun, pushed by sunlight and the solar wind, so on the way back out the comet travels tail-first.
- Did you know?Stars twinkle because their light wobbles as it passes through the moving air around Earth. Seen from space, they shine steadily.
Zoom Zoom to Saturn
Zoom Zoom to Saturn
by Ivy Chen
A cardboard-box rocket race to the ringed planet. Perfect after the bathtub fact.
Nova and the Missing Twinkle
Nova and the Missing Twinkle
by Ivy Chen
A little star loses her twinkle. Now you know the real reason stars twinkle, too.
2.Ocean: songs and lights in the deep
- Did you know?Male humpback whales sing long, repeating songs that can go on for hours, and whales in the same area slowly change their song together.
- Did you know?Most animals living in the deep ocean can make their own light. Scientists call it bioluminescence.
- Did you know?Coral reefs cover a tiny part of the sea floor, yet they are home to around a quarter of all known ocean species.
Little Whale's Big Song
Little Whale's Big Song
by Theo Marlowe
Wren is the smallest whale in the bay, with the biggest song nobody has heard yet.
Marina Vale and the Glow Below
Marina Vale and the Glow Below
by Theo Marlowe
For older readers: flashing lights in the Midnight Trench turn out to be a conversation.
3.Forest: trees that keep a diary
- Did you know?A tree usually adds one growth ring each year. Wide rings mean good growing years, and thin rings can show a drought.
- Did you know?A single old oak can support more than two thousand kinds of living things, from beetles and birds to mosses and fungi.
- Did you know?Fireflies make an almost heatless 'cold light'. Each species blinks its own pattern to find its friends.
Juniper Finch and the Tree That Remembered
Juniper Finch and the Tree That Remembered
by Mira Solano
Juniper reads an old oak's rings to save it. Count the rings of a tree stump together afterwards!
Pip and the Moonlit Forest
Pip and the Moonlit Forest
by Mira Solano
A small fox follows a trail of fireflies. A gentle first forest story for ages 3 to 5.
4.Farm: clever cows and sheep with great memories
- Did you know?Sheep can recognize the faces of at least 50 other sheep and remember them for up to two years.
- Did you know?Cows have favorite companions. Studies found they are calmer when they are with a preferred friend.
- Did you know?Hens chat all day long, using more than twenty different calls, including separate alarms for danger from the sky and danger on the ground.
The Sleepy Sheep Counting Club
The Sleepy Sheep Counting Club
by Bea Alvarez
Here the sheep count the children. With that memory, they never lose track... almost.
Clover the Cow Who Wanted to Fly
Clover the Cow Who Wanted to Fly
by Bea Alvarez
A determined cow, a hen with a chalkboard and a very big pile of hay.
5.Dinosaurs: closer than you think
- Did you know?Birds are living dinosaurs. The pigeon in the park is a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex.
- Did you know?The word 'dinosaur' means 'terrible lizard'. It was invented in 1842, although dinosaurs are not actually lizards.
- Did you know?Tyrannosaurus rex lived closer in time to us than to Stegosaurus. Millions of years separated those two giants.
Dino Dan Loses His Roar
Dino Dan Loses His Roar
by Rafi Kaplan
Dan wakes up with a squeak instead of a roar, and learns quiet can be mighty.
The Night the Museum Dinosaurs Woke Up
The Night the Museum Dinosaurs Woke Up
by Rafi Kaplan
A museum sleepover, a lost toe bone and a skeleton that needs it back by sunrise.
6.Dreams: what happens while we sleep
- Did you know?Newborn babies spend about half of their sleep in REM, the lively sleep stage when most vivid dreams happen. Adults spend about a fifth.
- Did you know?Everyone dreams several times a night, even people who say they never dream. Most dreams are simply forgotten by morning.
The Dream Delivery Truck
The Dream Delivery Truck
by Mira Solano
Poppy the mole delivers glowing dream jars to every bed in town.
Try this at home
Make a dream jar together: each morning, write or draw one thing you remember from the night and pop it in. By the weekend you will have a little library of dreams.