There’s No Such Thing as a Silly Question

Mike Rampton, illustrated by Guilherme Karsten

Answers over 200 “silly” questions
Encourages curiosity
Perfect for a “fact a day”

Sparked by their own curiosity and imagination, young readers often fire off seemingly random and “silly” questions on a range of different topics. There’s No Such Thing as a Silly Question, described as a “brilliantly silly question-and-answer book”, is clearly a book that will appeal to them!

With the subtitle “213 weird questions, expertly answered”, the book is published in collaboration with the University of Cambridge whose experts have fact-checked the answers. It contains questions that you probably never thought to ask, such as How many people are in the sky right now? Do bees sting other bees? Why are some money boxes pig shaped when pigs have no money. Rampton’s replies are written with clarity but also with lots of humour and wit. Karsten’s bold illustrations are very engaging, sometimes zany but always entertaining in their support of the text – and many of them contain extra details to spot.

Seemingly “silly” questions lead to invaluable explanations about subjects ranging from science and technology to history, zoology and sociology – and everything in between. Whether it’s a question on magic or minibeasts, or on space or sports, the author’s explanations are crafted in such a way that readers can relate to the answers from their own child-centred experiences.

The questions appear in a totally random order throughout the book, which might make them less accessible for some children. A section at the end lists all 213 questions by topic, so young readers searching for a particular topic will need to refer to that. The book also has an index and glossary, which explains the difficult words that appear in bold throughout the book.

There’s No Such Thing as a Silly Question is definitely the kind of book young readers (and quite possibly older ones too!) will want to dip into. It’s a perfect book for independent browsing and reading, but could also be used for shared reading experiences and in the classroom.

Published by Nosy Crow, (2024, 144 pages)

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