Internet Vet

Beth is ten and her father is a vet, but he's not doing too well until his children have the bright idea of putting him on the worldwide web.

Before you can say "walkies", Doug Kennel is inundated with queries from pet owners around the world.

"Help! My Dog Can't Stop Farting" is the first in Scholastic's series of light-hearted paperbacks about the web site.

Tony De Saulles' book takes the form of a story, told by Beth, but is laid-out with web pages and pictures as well as dialogue and description.

And as well as a sister book "Help! Something's Eaten My Hamster", it is accompanied by a real-life web site.

DAVID KNIGHTS

Spectacular Special Effects

Did you know that James Cameron only made half a Titanic but showed both sides by turning over the film and using back-to-front letters?

Or that the makers of Gone With The Wind set fire to half a film studio in order to make their blaze look convincing?

Or that the makers of Attack from Planet Hamster considered using a vacuum cleaner to suck the creatures up to their mothership?

All this and a lot more movie-making magic is revealed in the latest "Knowledge" paperback from Scholastic.

The tone is light-hearted but among the humorous cartoons are lots of facts about the creation of dozens of famous films.

Giant Hamsters is of course a make-believe film, used by writer Diana Kimpton to illustrate the sneaky tricks played by special-effects teams.

But the result is a fascinating book that screens the truth from the lies about cinematic weather, fights, chases, monsters and disasters.

DAVID KNIGHTS

Roald Dahl and his Chocolate Factory

Normally you have to be a Tudor or a scientist in order to be Dead Famous.

But this time Scholastic's humorous biography series points itself at the unlikely subject of children's writer Roald Dahl.

It follows him from childhood in Cardiff with Norwegian parents to success as the most revoltingly imaginative writer of the 20th century.

Along the way there is happiness, tragedy, divorce and stints as James Bond screenwriter, fighter pilot, medical inventor and spy.

The book is an interesting look at a man whose work is loved by millions of children but whose life is probably unknown to them.

DAVID KNIGHTS

Perishing Poles

Antarctica and the Arctic are the latest parts of the world to be visited by Anita Ganeri for Scholastic's Horrible Geography series.

This time she's got an award from the Royal Geographical Society in her pocket as she mixes fun with facts about the planet.

Cartoons accompany Ganeri's lowdown on the people who populate the Poles, the creatures who quiver in the cold and the science that designs the ice.

She also looks at explorers past and present, and the modern dangers facing the Poles, such as whalers, oilmen and holidaymakers.

DAVID KNIGHTS

Barmy British Empire

This is the latest in Terry Deary's immensely popular Horrible Histories series of facts-and-fun books.

Barmy doesn't seem the right word. Arrogant, corrupt, murderous, perhaps. Isn't Deary being a little flippant?

No - for among the corny jokes, silly cartoons and gruesome stories are serious points that hit home.

This is what Deary does best - especially in his Woeful Second World War - delighting children with the goriest and weirdest anecdotes but placing them firmly in their historical and social context.

He's certainly on the side of those historians who find little to praise the British Empire for, and a lot to blame.

"Everyday, somewhere in the British Empire, somebody suffered," he starts. Then he proves it by scouring Africa, India and Australia for nasty stories.

Even Henry Morton Stanley, dashing discoverer of Dr Livingstone, is shown in his true slave-trading, land-grabbing, child-killing colours.

Deary does explain that other countries had evil empires, and showcases some of the worst excesses of the native populations. But it's the Brits who rightly come off worst.

DAVID KNIGHTS