Elizabeth MacLeod and Frieda Wishinsky have taken a different, and largely successful, approach to getting a middle-grade audience interested in history. In A History of Just About Everything, the authors compile a list of objects and events that changed the world, and explore how “what happens in one place and time can spill over to another.” The book is easy to navigate and includes fun, colourful illustrations by prolific Toronto artist and designer Qin Leng.

Entries are arranged in chronological order and vary in length from a few paragraphs to two pages. Many are accompanied by “Ripples” boxes, which are an effective way of explaining the ongoing impact (or ripple effect) of a given person, event, or discovery (for example, the invention of the spinning wheel led to the creation of factories, which in turn led to child labour laws). Thorough cross-referencing allows readers to easily follow topics.

Some entries, including the discovery of the wheel, the two World Wars, and the invention of the computer, are what you would expect in a history of the human race. But the authors sometimes make connections that aren’t obvious. Did you know the invention of fire led to humans developing closer relationships as they huddled around it for warmth? And did you ever link the invention of photography to the development of abstract art, since artists were no longer required to represent reality?

I do have quibbles with some entries. Did the sinking of the Titanic or the 1936 Berlin Olympics really change the world? Is it appropriate to dedicate only two paragraphs to the 1929 stock market crash? And I do not understand the failure to include Canadian Confederation; surely the peaceful creation of a country merits as much consideration as nations created through cataclysmic bloodshed. But given that deciding what to include in a book of this nature will always be subjective, the effort is an admirable one. A History of Just About Everything is an informative reference for young and old.