Dorling Kindersley books

Dorling Kindersley is primarily a publisher of books, and it was these that inspired and ultimately led to the creation of the other media, such as programming and games, which this wiki focuses upon. The company first started to publish books in 1982, with the first being a first aid guide for British voluntary medical services. The company has published well over 500 books over the course of its history.

This page pays particular attention to those book titles that subsequently were adapted into programming by Dorling Kindersley Vision.

## Book series adapted into DK Vision programmes

### My First

At least ten books were published in the My First series between 1989 and 1993, and intend to provide step-by-step instructions on how to do a range of simple and fun activities based around a single theme, with all the books intended for children under the age of ten.

Between 1991 and 1993, seven of the ten ‘My First’ books were turned into direct-to-video programmes – they were the earliest books to be adapted, and also the first creations of Dorling Kindersley Vision:

* My First Cook Book (1989) adapted to My First Cookery Video (1991)
* My First Activity Book (1990) adapted to My First Activity Video (1992)
* My First Science Book (1990) adapted to My First Science Video (1992)
* My First Nature Book (1990) adapted to My First Nature Video (1991)
* My First Green Book (1991) adapted to My First Green Video (1992)
* My First Magic Book (1993) adapted to My First Magic Video (1993)
* M First Music Book (1993) adapted to My First Music Video (1993)

Three of the books were never adapted into television programming – further information on their contents will be provided here, taken from the inside of the ‘My First Green Video’ VHS sleeve:

**My First Party Book** (1991)

Full of fun and imaginative things children can make and cook for their parties. Party hats, invitations, decorations and fancy dips are among the many simple and creative preparations explained in this book.

**My First Baking Book** (1991)

Simple and fun baking recipes for delicious cakes and cookies. Children learn to bake delicious dinosaurs, choux pastry spiders, fruity bread, Christmas wreaths and much, much more.

**My First Garden Book** (1992)

The perfect introduction to both indoor and outdoor gardening. This delightful book is packed with projects and idea for all occasions: how to grow vegetables on a windowsill, create your very own miniature desert, and even cultivate exotic plants from kitchen leftovers.

### See How They Grow

See How They Grow was first released as a book series in 1991, with three or four books releasing in that year. By the time the VHS adaptations were first released in 1993, there were a total of sixteen books. Of these, thirteen were adapted into live action:

* Puppy (1991) – Adapted into part of Pets
* Kitten (1991) – Adapted into part of Pets
* Frog (1991) – Adapted into part of Pond Animals
* Duck (1991-1992) – Adapted into part of Pond Animals
* Chick (1992) – Adapted into part of Farm Animals
* Lamb (1992) – Adapted into part of Farm Animals
* Butterfly (1992) – Adapted into part of Mini Beasts
* Rabbit (1992) – Adapted into part of Wild Animals
* Fox (1992) – Adapted into part of Wild Animals
* Mouse (1992) – Adapted into part of Woodland Animals
* Owl (1992) – Adapted into part of Woodland Animals
* Pig (1993) – Adapted into part of Farm Animals
* Calf (1993) – Adapted into part of Farm Animals

A further three book titles were not turned adapted into a VHS format:

* Foal (1992)
* Giraffe (1993)
* Penguin (1993)

In the early 2000s, See How They Grow was re-released under a new title, ‘Watch Me Grow’. This series added and removed some titles to the series, and also combined others under single titles. The returning titles include:

* Frog (2003)
* Duckling (2003)
* Butterfly (2004)
* Rabbit (2004)
* Penguin (2004)
* Farm Animals (2005) – Contains chick, piglet, calf and lamb
* Puppy (2005)
* Kitten (2005)

Fox, Mouse, Foal and Giraffe did not return as book titles, with new titles including:

* Bear (2004)
* Elephant (2005)
* Apes (2006) – Contains orangutan, gorilla, gibbon and chimpanzee
* Turtle (2006)
* Panda (2008)

A big difference between ‘Watch Me Grow’ and ‘See How They Grow’ is that, while the See How They Grow pages are all done using stock images from Dorling Kindersley’s own image library, the Watch Me Grow books contain images of animals from the wild, rather than photographed in a studio.

See How They Grow has been recently re-released as a set of three books, each containing five different animals relevant to a central theme. These three books, and their relevant animals, are:

* Farm Animals (2021) – Contains chick, piglet, calf, lamb and duckling
* Pets (2021) – Contains puppy, kitten, goldfish, rabbit and pony
* Forest (2022) – Contains fox, owl, mouse, squirrel and deer

The original plan was for Forest to be released under the title of Woodland Animals, and the description for the Farm Animals re-release also mentions plans for a new title called Zoo Animals.

Only one See How They Grow VHS release contains four animals that have all had book titles (Farm Animals), with most others having only one or two animals. A total of four programmes – Desert Animals, Jungle Animals, Sea Animals and Tree Animals – are completely original, with none of the four species included in any book title.

### Eyewitness

Eyewitness is the biggest and most successful book series produced by Dorling Kindersley, which was first published in 1988. There have subsequently been 169 titles published under the main Eyewitness title, including 30 books that were originally published in two separate book sets (14 titles in Eyewitness Art and 16 in Eyewitness Science). Most of the books are about a distinct topic, with the only major exception being ‘Index to the Eyewitness Guides’ a UK-exclusive release from 2000.

The Eyewitness books have a broad range of themes, mainly examining the natural sciences (such as animal groups, physics, chemistry, geology, botany and astronomy), but also including topics relating to history (including peoples, empires and historical features of great importance), religion (most of the major religions have at least one companion book), culture (including film, music, dance and sports) and art (various artists and artistic effects).

Most of the books have been re-released multiple times since their original publication. While the rate of new titles has slowed down, new books are still being released with one of the most recent being National Parks; this title being published on 6th June 2023.

In the first and second seasons of the Eyewitness television series, which aired in 1994 and 1996 respectively, all the episodes were based upon book titles that had been released prior to the airing of the episode.

* Bird (1988)
* Butterfly and Moth (1988)
* Dinosaur (1988)
* Mammal (1988)
* Pond and River (1988)
* Rock and Mineral (1988)
* Skeleton (1988)
* Tree (1988)
* Seashore (1989)
* Shell (1989)
* Fish (1990)
* Insect (1990)
* Cat (1991)
* Dog (1991)
* Reptile (1991)
* Horse (1992)
* Shark (1992)
* Volcano (1992) – Published as Volcano and Earthquake
* Amphibian (1993)
* Elephant (1993)
* Arctic and Antarctic (1994)
* Desert (1994)
* Jungle (1994)
* Prehistoric Life (1994)
* Weather (1994)
* Ape (1995) – Published as Gorilla, Monkey and Ape

By the time of season three, there was less in the way of books suitable for adapting – only six of the thirteen episodes in this season were based upon books published prior to the airing of the season in 1997, and two of these belonged to the separate Eyewitness Science book series.

* Plant (1989)
* Flight (1990) – Published as Flying Machine
* Human Machine (1993) – Published as Human Body in the Eyewitness Science franchise
* Planets (1994) – Published as Astronomy
* Life (1994) – Published in the Eyewitness Science franchise
* Ocean (1995)

Another two episodes were published as books subsequent to the airing of their episodes

* Mountain (2001) – Published as Everest
* Natural Disasters (2006)

The five remaining episodes in season three did not have a companion book at the time of airing and have not had a book on the topic published subsequently.

* Bear
* Sight
* Island
* Survival
* Monster

## Books based on or containing elements of DK Vision shows

### Amazing Animals

The Really Amazing Animal Book was published in November 1996, between the airing of seasons one and two of the Amazing Animals programme. The book has either 21 or 24 pages. Most of the double pages look at themes similar to season one episodes, such as disguises, appetites, poisonous animals, senses and baby animals, but also includes some topics that only came about in later seasons such as record breakers (from the season two episode Animal Records) and animal athletes (similar to the season three episode Animal Acrobats).

While most information in the book is presented in simple paragraphs, there are a few speech bubbles of text linked to images of Henry the Lizard and, uniquely in the wider Amazing Animals franchise, some speech bubbles are produced by the cartoon characters.

### Megabites

The Megabites book ‘Myths and Monsters’, published in 2003, includes at least two links to the Man Beasts episode of Creatures Fantastic. On pages 44 and 45, in a chapter entitled ‘Monster Mix’, both of the pictures are relevant to the episode. On the left-hand page is an inverted version of the minotaur photograph used on the front cover of the Man Beasts VHS box, while the picture on the right-hand page shows a screenshot of Medusa from the episode itself.