DK Books

DK Publishing, Inc.

DK publishes many beautifully-illustrated “real books” and software programs related to science. Their line includes some Eyewitness books, carefully differentiated from the Knopf Eyewitness books described below. “Carefully” means you will have a difficult time figuring out whose books belong to whom. Some catalogs show both the Knopf Eyewitness titles and DK’s Eyewitness titles! Reviews of one Eyewitness title and a Visual Dictionary serve as examples. Other DK titles (not from Eyewitness lines) seem to come in series. Some series titles are Eye Wonder, See and Explore, DK Pockets, Ultimate Sticker Books,Machines at Work, and the ASPCA Pet Care Guides for Kids (ages 7 and up).

DK Eyewitness Science series

There are eight titles in the Eyewitness Science series: Astronomy, Chemistry, Electronics, and Ecology, Human Body, Skeleton, Life, Light, Matter, and Technology. These 64-page, hardcover books are visually appealing with hundreds of full-color illustrations and text designed to make science concepts and facts easy to understand. Topically organized, these books do not strive to replace texts. But they serve well as introductory and supplementary volumes or as part of unit studies. Each two-page spread deals with a separate topic. Coverage is very selective. For example, in a discussion of electricity and chemistry, there’s a paragraph on the first battery, one on “splitting salt,” a biographical sketch on Humphry Davy, and a paragraph on electroplating—certainly not comprehensive coverage of either topic.

DK’s catalog suggests using these books for grades ages 8 and up, but the content seems clearly aimed at older levels, probably best for grades 6-8. Some of the content would even be appropriate for high school students. The size of the type for introductory paragraphs on each two-page spread is suitably large, but the type for all of the subtopics is often extremely small. This might be a problem for some students. Evolutionary presuppositions are evident in these books. These are great browsing books.

The Visual Dictionary of the Human Body

This stunning, oversized book in the Eyewitness series is filled with exceptionally clear and beautiful illustrations, models and photos that cover the human body and its systems in enough detail to be a useful reference for high school biology students. (Note: the nervous and circulatory systems are shown superimposed on a photo of a nude woman.) This book is great for all ages, but illustrations are realistic and might be overwhelming for some children.[Reviewed by Valerie Thorpe]