B Small Publishing have for some time been one of my favourite publishers. As a small indpendent publisher they specialise in creative, educational titles with high child appeal and their information books encourage their readers to discover new things. When I learned that they had teamed up with Scott Evans, known by many as The Reader Teacher, for a new title in their Science and Society range I was keen to see what this book would be like. Being invited to participate in the blog tour to mark publication was a golden opportunity to discover for myself. A short review would be, ‘a must buy for primary school libraries’. But please read on for a fuller review that explains why!

The synopsis provided describes All Brains Are Wonderful as “a comprehensive guide for children, and the adults in their life, as they learn to deal with the diverse ways our brains work.” This sounds hugely ambitious but this book, pitched at the 7+ age group, does provide an excellent overview of the subject in an appealing and accessible way. After the ‘about this book’ introduction the contents are divided into three sections; science, society, and taking action. The first section contains biological details such as: comparisons with animals’ brains; the development of the brain in the womb; the different areas of the brain and what each is responsible for plus how the brain understands the world and can be trained and challenged throughout our lives. The text is clear with sufficient detail to explain without overwhelming the reader. The illustrations support this well being colourful and child friendly but also depicting scientific aspects and labelled with brief detail.

The second section moves on to society and attitudes to differences in the way in which our brains our wired. As a neurodivergent teacher Scott Evans is well placed to explain this to children and the input of an expert consultant, Dr Rachel Williams, no doubt helps to ensure the veracity of the information shared too. The way in which knowledge of how the brain works has changed over time is given and how discrimination can affect neurodivergent people is covered alongside discussion about the meaning of the term disability. The book gently encourages its readers to appreciate these differences and to develop an understanding of how both their own brains and those of others work.

Finally, there is advice on mental health matters such as how you can take care of your own brain and well being plus what children can do to make life easier for themselves and their classmates. The glossary at the end includes definitions of terms such as more well known ones including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia but also hyperlexia and synesthesia which is helpful.

This is the type of book that well deserves a place in primary school libraries as it will be helpful in a wide range of scenarios and for both individuals and classes. It is immensely readable as book to browse and children will learn much from this but as an opening for conversations about a subject sometimes tricky to explain it is invaluable.

I should like to thank Naomi Weeks of B Small Publishing for providing my review copy and for her help in preparing this review. Please do follow the rest of the blog tour to discover what others think of All Brains Are Wonderful which is published on 3rd February.