Learn: Lonely Planet’s page-turners for curious minds (and not just the kids)

Is there anything Lonely Planet doesn’t have? Some publishers do “a bit of everything” and end up thin on detail. Lonely Planet, somehow, does everything with depth. Their shelves stretch from backyard bugs to ancient empires, via dinosaurs, fairy-tale forests and real-world family travel planning. If your “4 Things” list leans Learn this Christmas, this is the stack that turns sparkly paper into months of wide-eyed questions, kitchen-table quizzes and “Mum, did you know…?” moments. It’s screen-free, genuinely engaging, and yes — adults will “borrow” these after bedtime.

Start with the guaranteed crowd-pleaser: My First Lift the Flap Dinosaur Atlas (RRP $19.99). It’s not just another dino book; it’s a world tour with hinges. Little hands lift flaps, find footprints and connect “where” with “what,” mapping T. rex to North America and titanosaurs to South America. That simple act of pairing place with creature is sneaky-smart — you’re building early geography without a worksheet in sight. It’s also perfect for those “ten minutes before we leave” windows when attention is short and curiosity is loud. Set it up on the coffee table, and watch small fingers learn to love maps.

Then wander into the garden and go microscopic with The Bugs Book (RRP $32.99). This is where dinner-table facts are born: how bees dance, which beetles glow, why a butterfly’s wing is basically magic under a microscope. The tone is respectful to young readers — never babying, always inviting — and the pictures walk that fine line between beautiful and precise. If you’ve got a child who kneels to watch ants carry the world on their backs, this will feel like a secret door into everything they already love. It’s the book that leaves muddy knees and clean hearts, and you’ll find yourself saying, “Hang on, let me see that page again,” far more often than you expect.

For bigger kids who like their learning with a dash of drama, Amazing Ancient World Atlas (RRP $29.99) time-travels with real momentum. It steps through civilisations as places you can imagine standing, not just dates to memorise: market chatter in Athens, desert winds around the pyramids, river light along the Ganges. Maps anchor every story. Sidebars and timelines bring the pieces together without feeling like homework. It’s history you can feel, and it makes those classroom units click faster because the context is already alive at home. If your family is partial to museum days, expect this one to become your pre-visit ritual.

Balance the non-fiction with a gorgeous exhale: A Treasury of Traditional Tales (RRP $32.99). Familiar plots are retold with rich language and a gentle modern pulse. The rhythm is bedtime-friendly; the illustrations reward slow reading; and the “what would you do?” conversations arrive exactly when you want them. Fairy tales endure because they teach structure, courage and consequence in a way children can hold. This collection manages to feel classic and fresh at once, which is rarer than it should be. You’ll close the cover feeling that pleasant tug to read one more chapter, even if you’re the one who needs sleep.

And then there’s the book that turns learning into living: Where to Go When with the Kids (RRP $55). If you’ve ever tried to plan a school-holiday escape with four tabs open, a weather map, and one eye on airfare sales, this is sanity in hardcover. It organises ideas by season, pairs destinations with what’s actually great right then, and suggests family-sized activities that don’t require a logistics degree. You can dream big or keep it local; the point is less “bucket list” and more “doable, delightful.” Keep it on the kitchen bench with a stack of sticky notes and let the kids tag pages they love. The conversation shifts from “we should go somewhere” to “shall we try this in April?” — and suddenly you have a plan instead of a scroll.

What we love about this whole line-up is how it respects the family attention span. These are books designed to be dipped into and returned to, not conquered in one sitting. They’re sturdy enough for small hands, visual enough for mixed ages, and written with a voice that trusts children to be curious without being lectured. Learning here is a door you open together: a flap lifted, a trail followed, a map traced, a recipe imagined from a long-ago market. On a practical level, they also stack neatly under “things to do when it’s too hot to go outside,” which is a category every Australian household needs from Boxing Day to back-to-school.

The Christmas-morning magic matters, too. These titles unwrap beautifully: bold covers, satisfying heft, instant “flip to this page” potential. If you’re doing the “4 Things” rule — Want, Need, Wear, Read — this is how Read earns squeals. Pair My First Lift the Flap Dinosaur Atlas with a toy compass or a pack of dinosaur stickers and call it an explorer’s kit. Tuck a magnifying glass onto The Bugs Book with a ribbon and a promise of a backyard safari. Slip museum passes inside Amazing Ancient World Atlas for a January day out. Add hot chocolate sachets to A Treasury of Traditional Tales and declare a family read-aloud night. Clip a little calendar to Where to Go When with the Kids so the first plan can start with pen, paper and shared grins. Learning becomes a ritual, not a resolution.

Parents will appreciate the way each title earns its shelf space long after the holidays. The dino atlas anchors those “what lives where?”