Book of Bones and a Natural History Museum membership – a gift for young naturalists
Know a budding botanist? Then pair our book with membership to one of the world's leading zoological institutions
Do you know a child who loves nature? Then you should get him or her Book of Bones. It's a beautifully produced, wonderfully fun way to learn about animal skeletons, with ten record-breaking bones introduced through a series of guessing games and clues. The answers are revealed in vivid, full-colour depictions of each beast in its habitat, allowing kids to make the jump between extreme facts of animal anatomy, and the beauty of the natural world.
However, sometimes it's just as enlightening to see those bones in a musem setting. That's why, if you've a young naturalist on your gift list this year, you might want to think about pairing Book of Bones with membership to a local natural history museum.
In the UK, London's Natural History Museum is the obvious choice. This beautiful Victorian building on Exhibition Road displays many of the bones described in our new book, as well as countless other exhibits, and holds Charles Darwin's original specimens in its permanent collection.
A family membership to the Natural History Museum costs £102 for two adults and up to four children, and entitles the holders to free entrance to all ticketed exhibitions, priority access to other displays and an array of other benefits, including subscriptions to both the museum's adults and childrens magazines.
Stateside gift givers meanwhile, might want to consider membership to the American Museum of Natural History at Central Park West at 79th Street in Manhattan. The venerable, 19th century institution houses plenty of prehistoric artefacts, detailed animal specimens, and lifelike model dioramas, enabling visitors to picture an array of beasts in their proper setting.
Here, family membership costs $150, and entitles two adults and up to four children to access unlimited general and special events, as well as screenings, previews, and a discount at the museum shop.
Go here to find out more about the Natural History Museum in London; here for more on the American Natural History Museum; and go here to buy Book of Bones.