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How the world works 2011 Royal Society Young People's Book Prize winner

How did life begin? Is the earth moving beneath our feet? Why does it rain? Find out the answers to these questions and many more in this hands-on exploration of our incredible planet. Bulging with pop-ups, tabs to pull, flaps to lift and loads more supercool things to discover, this fact-packed guide will reveal the awe-inspiring wonders of our world.

Judges' comments

The shortlisting panel said "We loved the way this book uses stunning pop-ups and other mechanisms to explain the science of the Earth - covering everything from the hydrological cycle to plate tectonics."

The young judges in our judging panels across the UK did not hold back in their praise, describing the book as “really entertaining” and “fun”. Christopher, aged 13, said: “There is a TON of information and brilliant pop ups and pull outs!”. Rosie, aged 12, said: “I couldn't wait to open this book, my friend Amy couldn't stop talking about how great it is; and I agree! It uses lots of scientific language and illustrations to explain all the interesting topics. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and learnt so much! Bonus!”. Megan, aged 13, thought the book was "a wonderful hands-on scientific adventure, waiting to be explored" and Jordan, aged 10, said: “This was the best book ever, you cannot beat it!”

Watch the film celebrating all six shortlisted books, reviewed by young people who made up some of the judging panels across the UK responsible for selecting the winning book.

The Royal Society Young People's Book Prize winner is selected by groups of young people in judging panels across the UK. Over 1000 young people, from 100 panels, took part to select the 2011 winner, How the world works by Christiane Dorion and Beverley Young, from a shortlist of 6 books. The panels were asked to submit video reviews of the shortlist as part of a video competition, the winning video review by Northlands Primary School, is shown below.

As the producers of the winning video their panel was awarded £300 in book tokens.