Invitation
Dear reader,
By order of
The Royal Society of Astonishingly Amazing and Fantastically Fabulous Facts
You are cordially invited to attend
A CELEBRATION OF FACTS
You shall have unique access to our treasured fact collection, displayed in rooms throughout our illustrious Palace. We enclose a map to guide you.
Discover our extraordinary animals in the Menagerie , reflect on your adventure in our Hall of Mirrors , lose yourself in the Royal Maze , examine dinosaur bones in the Fossil Hall , scale the OBSERVATORY to see the stars, and even delve inside the Dungeons . Nowhere is off-limits.
(Yes, by Royal Decree, the golden toilet will be available… just in case.)
On this wondrous journey, you will not be alone! Three most excellent companions will join you.
Allow us to introduce:
Hello!
Hi there! woof!
Pip, Alice, and their dog, Charley.
We look forward to welcoming you!
The Royal Society of Astonishingly Amazing and Fantastically Fabulous Facts
Art Gallery
The scientist who discovered penicillin created paintings of houses, ballerinas, fighting stick figures, and more, using bacteria and petri dishes.
The oldest-known artwork featuring an animal depicts a pig and dates back 45,000 years.
The famous bust of Nefertiti, an ancient Egyptian queen, has only one completed eye—experts aren’t sure why.
Ultramarine was a blue paint color made from crushed lapis lazuli, a semiprecious stone. The paint was once worth more than gold.
From the 1600s to the 1800s, artists stored their paint in animal bladders.
Archaeologists uncovered a painting from under the ash of Pompeii that some think shows an early form of pizza.
One artist created nearly 400 ice sculptures of hot dogs made of the water left over from boiling hot-dog sausages.
There is art on the Moon!
Artist Jeff Koons made 125 mini moon sculptures that are now on display on the Moon’s surface.
Pigeons have been trained to tell famous artists’ paintings apart from one another.
A mantis shrimp has a punch powerful enough to break glass.
Scientistshavecreateda robot that looks like a snake—theyhopeone day it will look for signsoflifeononeofSaturn’s moons
A black rhino’s upper lip is prehensile—it can grip on to things in the same way a monkey’s tail can grip a tree branch. Rhinos use it to help grab vegetation to eat.
I'll race you, pip!
Bald uakaris, red-faced monkeys from South America, wag their tails when they’re excited.
Raccoons have agile hands—they can open doors and untie knots!
Monkeys pick dirt and bugs off other monkeys as a bonding activity.
Some spiders build their web nests inside seashells.
A Vermont university gave a degree to a cat named Max.
Poison frogs can tap their toes at speeds of 500 times per minute—scientists think the tapping is used for hunting.
It is said that English king Henry III kept a polar bear and took it to the river every day to catch fish.
Giraffes produce a stinky body odor that keeps away parasites, bad bacteria, and fungi.
Travel through a magnificent palace where the world’s most mind-bending facts are on display!
You are hereby invited to the Palace of Facts, where 400 astonishing facts await… Search the treasure room to find facts about crystals; explore the fossil hall to dig up facts about dinosaurs; scale the observatory to spot facts about space; delve into the dungeons to discover hidden facts. On this marvelous journey, you will be accompanied by three characters—Pip, Alice, and their dog Charley—who will lead you from room to room with witty and playful charm.
Every fact is woven into Andy Smith’s lavishly illustrated scenes. Inspired by the idea of a memory palace—where facts are located in imagined physical spaces—this unique book makes information both beautiful and memorable.
US. ORDERS
Publishers Group West
Tel: (866) 400-5351 • Fax: (800) 838-1149 • ips@ingramcontent.com
Author: Kate Olesin
Illustrator: Andy Smith
Price: $30.00
Size: 14.5 x 10.6 in Format: Hardcover
Extent: 96pp
Pub date: 4 August 2026
Age: 8-12
ISBN: 9781804661710
Key selling points
• This lavishly-illustrated book brings a unique, gifty offering to the fact-book market.
• The same large format as the bestselling Welcome to the Museum series.
• Created by the same author-and-illustrator team behind the FACTopia! series which has sold 270,000 copies.
• Covers topics as diverse as dinosaurs, space, art, animals, history, geography, music, technology, architecture, literature, sports, and more.
• Inspired by a memory palace—the idea, championed by memory experts worldwide, of locating facts in imagined physical spaces—this book makes information wonderfully memorable.
• The short facts written in clear, accessible language and eye-catching, richly detailed visuals make this title perfect for reluctant or struggling readers.
Andy Smith is an award-winning illustrator who studied illustration at the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art, London. His work combines illustration and photography to create images that have humor, energy, and optimism executed with a handmade, hand-printed, tactile feel. He has illustrated the entire FACTopia! series. Andy lives in Hastings, East Sussex, UK.
Kate Olesin (formerly Kate Hale) is a writer, editor, and professional fun fact finder. A former executive editor for National Geographic Kids’ Books, she’s edited or written about everything from dog communication to inspiring scientists to wacky roadside attractions. She also co-created and hosted the award-winning kids’ radio program the Weird but True! show, and is the author of FACTopia !, Return to FACTopia! , and Cute FACTopia! Kate lives in Portland, Oregon.
Submit orders to your sales representative, or via the IPS Cart on Ingram iPage at ipage.ingramcontent.com • EDI using IPS SAN: 6318630
PR AND MARKETING
Publisher Spotlight Tel: (615) 930-2110 • ellen@publisherspotlight.com
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CANADA ORDERS
The Manda Group
Tel: (855) 626-3222 • Fax: (888) 563-8327 info@mandagroup.com
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