The Reading Agency Presents: Awesome facts about the world (including quiz)

The Reading Agency Presents: Discover awesome facts about the world with What on Earth!

Join authors Christopher Lloyd, Andrew Pettie and Letizia Diamante for an interactive event filled with mind-blowing facts and a quiz to test your knowledge.

This National Non-Fiction November, your class or child can join What on Earth! authors Christopher Lloyd, Andrew Pettie and Letizia Diamante as they introduce their books Absolutely Everything!, Britannica’s Encyclopedia Infographica and Open Wide. Along the way, test your knowledge and learn lots of mind-blowing new facts about space, nature, technology, animals and much, much more.

How many planets in our solar system would fit between Earth and the Moon? How many cups of snot does your body make in a day? How many people are flying up in the sky at this very moment? And what amazing things can animals do with their mouths? All of these questions and more will be answered during this fun, fascinating talk and quiz, where you’ll discover that the real world is far more amazing than anything you can make up!

The 60 minute event will be hosted by author Andrew Pettie. You’ll hear from each author as they reveal some jaw-dropping facts from their books. This will be followed by a mind-boggling quiz and then it’s your turn to ask the questions at the end of the event.

Make sure to have a pen and paper ready to take part in the quiz!

About the authors

Dr Letizia Diamante is a science communicator and children's writer. After her PhD in Biochemistry, she worked as a science communicator for a variety of public and private organisations, including CERN and the University of Cambridge. She enjoys writing about great discoveries, taking photos, presenting at schools, organising events for science festivals and visiting science museums all over the world.

Andrew Pettie is a writer, editor and journalist who has contributed to The Times, Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph, where he was Head of Culture. Andrew is the author of Listified! (Published by Britannica Books), Encyclopedia Infographica and the editor of Britannica’s What on Earth! Magazine.

Christopher Lloyd began his career as a journalist with the Sunday Times newspaper. Then, one day, he had a realisation: even with a 1st class degree in history from Cambridge University and experience as a science writer, there was so much about the world he didn’t know. So, he set out to write a book that showed how seemingly unrelated events fit together. After his adult world history book What on Earth Happened? sold 500,000 copies around the world, Chris set out to tell the story to children. Absolutely Everything is the result. Chris lives in Tonbridge, Kent, with his wife and two adorable terriers.

About the books

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention Revised & Expanded tells the most remarkable true stories of all time and around the world brought vividly to life – from the Big Bang right up to the present day. Readers will discover that the real world is far more amazing than anything you can make up! The second edition is revised for fuller global coverage and updated with the latest research, as well as with events that have occurred since the first edition published in 2018. For every question the book answers, it sparks another one, helping lead the reader into a lifelong love of enquiring and discovering answers.
Selected as one of The Sunday Times and Telegraph’s Children’s Books of the Year 2018 and described by bestselling author JACQUELINE WILSON as “ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ... Children will love it – and adults too!”

Britannica’s Encyclopedia Infographica: 1,000s of Facts & Figures–about Earth, space, animals, the body, technology & more–Revealed in Pictures

A ground-breaking new encyclopedia, where the pictures do the talking! With 200 awe-inspiring original infographics, including maps, timelines and more, learn astonishing facts verified by Britannica experts at a glance as you turn every page! Discover the size of our Sun in comparison to the largest star in the universe; find out which animal could leap the human equivalent of three football fields; learn how many cups of snot your body makes a day; compare the sizes of the biggest beasts that have ever lived; witness what happens in a single second across the world.

Open Wide: Jaw-dropping Mouths of the Animal World

Join scientist Letizia Diamante and chomp your way through pages of facts about the most astonishing mouths, sharpest teeth, stretchiest cheeks and stickiest tongues in the animal kingdom. From the awesome jaws of the great white shark to the tiny teeth of the garden snail. Some animals sport tongues that are longer than their bodies, others have super-sticky spit that can speedily snare an insect snack. And animals use their mouths for lots of things other than just eating – to carry their food or their babies, to build their homes or even to climb waterfalls! A feast for all those children who can’t get enough of sharks, big cats and other toothy predators.

More about National Non-Fiction November

National Non-Fiction November is an annual celebration of all things factual. Organised by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, the whole month celebrates all those readers that have a passion for information and facts and attempts to bring non-fiction celebration in line with those of fiction. Throughout the month, various events, activities and competitions will be running. Please visit the FCBG for more information and to find ideas for how to celebrate.

More about the event

There will be time at the end for questions from the audience so do pop your burning questions into the Q&A chat box. You can also send your questions in advance by emailing [email protected].

Length: 60 minutes, includes 15 minutes for questions at the end. Suitable for children aged 7-11.

This free event will take place via Zoom webinar and parents, teachers and school librarians will be sent a link to join in their confirmation email. Whilst the event will be interactive, children will not be able to speak directly to each other or the presenters. At the end of the event, children will have the opportunity to ask questions via their parent/teacher/librarian/. Participants' cameras and microphones will be turned off for this event.

If you have any questions, please get in touch at [email protected].

Host or Publisher The Reading Agency