Do Not Open

by John Farndon

Book Overview

In the groundbreaking tradition of DK's New York Times bestseller Pick Me Up, this book uses the same irreverent style to explore all the things THEY don't want you know about. From the Mona Lisa's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756632056
• ISBN13: 9780756632052
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 3.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 9.4" x 10.1"
• Age Range: 10 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 12

Customer Reviews

Terrific

Do Not Open We purchased this book for our two male grandchildren, one is 15 and the other is 8 years of age. They both enjoy the book tremdenously, and I was told it gets dragged all over the house and constantly being used. They challenge each other with information from the book. I am very happy with this selection and wish there were other books like this one to make the kids leave the video games and sit down and read a book and use their imagination.

Adults might enjoy it, too

We didn't know this was a children's book when we purchased it because we enjoyed it so much. We're both over 30 and have found the topics really interesting. There's also another picture book out called "Take Me To Your Leader" that appears to be for adults.

A value at any price - hours of entertainment!

Do Not Open is an oversized, shiny full-color encyclopedia of the world's best-kept secrets. Dorling Kindersley (now just DK Publishing as a division of Penguin Group USA) made their mark with copiously illustrated hardbound texts on a variety of non-fiction subjects, and Do Not Open is a cornucopia of illustrations, diagrams, photographs, charts, maps, and more. It's got terrifically legible fine print and they manage to pack more than 250 pages into its slim profile, while retaining the famous DK page sheen and durability. Do Not Open is a book meant to be read in hops, skips, and jumps, so the author includes "How to Use" instructions at the beginning. Readers are encouraged to open to a page and then use the "want to know more?" text at the bottom to explore related subjects. A chart on the "How to Use" page spread shows how one could get from the first page of the book to the last in six easy hops - but every reader's journal will be personal. "In time, you can probably work your way through the whole book!" I highly recommend Do Not Open as a gift book for children ages 8 - 12. I wish I was a child again, so I could hole up in my room with this delightful treasure and then maybe even teach my parents some new facts.

kid enticing

This book is perfect for kids who love to read short articles about stuff. Think "Bathroom reader" series for kids. It comes in a box and the cover looks like an iron door with open slats showing the book. It even has a magnetic closure on the "door". It is filled with interesting facts in a comic book way and bright pictures. I would recommend this to any child (or adult) that enjoys reading almanacs.

Half silly, half serious, all terrific

A compilation of weird and wonderful trivia illustrated with what must be thousands of fun and whimsical images, this outstanding book is a great bathroom read. Each subject is covered with a just a paragraph or two, and there are so many topics! Randomly flipping open the pages I find info about Mark Felt's secret identity as Watergate's Deep Throat, the Rosetta Stone, spontaneous combustion, Elvis' secret identity as "Jon Burrows," the secrets behind common magic tricks, "Top Tips for Breaking The Time Barrier", the tribes of the rain forest... I could go on forever. Usually books like this seem thrown together, with out-of-date info and cheap graphics. This one is just the opposite. What I especially like is the variety of art. The credits page lists 12 illustrators; it seems like about a hundred. By the way, the book doesn't look like the image shown above. That's its reflective silver storage box. The book cover, which you see peeking out behind the bars, is a colorful collage of the various art inside. True to the spirit of the book's title, the box has a magnetic hinge, which makes it difficult to open. It has a companion title, Pick Me Up.