Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The smallest book in the world is called Chemin de la Cruix. It has 119 pages. It is 2 inches high and 1 1/3 inches wide. The largest book in the world is an atlas which is in the British Museum. It is 5 feet 10 inches high and 3 feet by 6 inches wide.
"Book" comes from the word liber. Liber is a Latin name that the Romans used for the thin layer of stuff that is found between the wood and bark of a tree. The Romans used to peel the layer away from the tree and use it as paper to write on.
Did you know that books can breathe? People visiting the British Museum complained of getting headaches. This was because books seem to absorb or "breathe" in air and "breathe" out smells of their own. There was so many old books in the Museum that there was no fresh air left which meant people got headaches from breathing in bad air !!
There are 2 kinds of bookworms.. children and grownups that like to read are often called "bookworms". It's a good thing to be called a bookworm...as long as you read good books !
In the olden days when books were made by hand, a scribe would have to copy out the writings onto parchment. He was not allowed to make any mistakes! All day long he would just sit and copy down words using pen and ink.
The other kind of "bookworm" is a insect that likes to eat the pages of books. They are usually moth or beetle larvae (which are tiny pale worms).
Benjamin Franklin, an American, started the first lending library.
Did you know the Chinese used silk to make their paper?
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