It would have been nice to have had a comprehensive guide to the millennium – a topic we’re certain to get very tired of in the next two years. Sadly, however, this book-in-a-hurry does very little to explain the concept of millennium fever, calendar reform, multicultural observances, the mathematical implications of year 2000 computer crunches, or a host of other interesting, useful topics. Instead, this slim work offers meagre facts and laboured associations such as: “Termites and fish can lay 2,000 eggs, bristlecone pines live over 2,000 years. Can you think of other 2,000 tie-ins?”

The book does provide a nice collection of simple crafts and party ideas, including an adapted advent calendar, spray-painted T-shirt, papier-mâché globe-on-a-balloon, quilt squares, and time capsules. The skill levels required for these projects are an odd mix of the obvious and the laborious, from cutting simple paper chains to cracking walnut shells perfectly in half, inserting a motto and then gluing them up again (“it may take a couple of tries”only hints at the frustration involved).

The standard Kids Can non-fiction layout, with columns, fact boxes, lots of white space, and black and white cartoons means there’s little chance for textual elaboration. There is a missed opportunity in the timeline on the edge of each page, whose entries bear no relationship to any of the subjects discussed in facing pages. The choice of items for inclusion seems capricious, and the timeline includes such glaring errors as the misspelling of dramatist Aphra Behn’s name and the bizarre relocation of English writer Mary Wollstonecraft to the United States. (Perhaps this is related to the fact that the only e-mail address listed for kids to send “millennium greetings” to is [email protected]).

This book is probably intended for rapid market penetration and quick demise. Yet an opportunity for a longer shelf life seems obvious: the concept of the missing year between 1 BC and 1 AD (briefly mentioned in a box on the front page) could have been given more prominence, including a product expiration sticker on the cover stating “good till 2002.” Given the slightness of this project, though, perhaps starting on a new book about the coming millennium is a better idea.