Pokémon Deluxe Essential Handbook: The Need-to-Know Stats and Facts on Over 700 Pokémon

My son loves this book. It contains all sorts of bits and pieces about the Pokemon characters. I don't think it really helps in anyway with actually playing the game, but it's a nice addition to any Pokemon fan's collection.I should read this book myself and increase my knowledge of Pokemon, that way when my son is talking to me about it I won't think he's speaking Greek (which wouldn't be a problem if I'm Greek, but I'm not). Hmmm, do you think citizens of Greece have a similar saying, like "That guy was talking to me about rocket science but it all sounded like <insert some other language than Greek here> to me"? If you're Greek, please leave a comment, I'd really like to know.And if you are Greek, you'll be happy to know that your child will love this book if you get it for them.I've read other reviews saying the book will start to fall apart quickly, but my son hasn't abused his enough yet. I'm sure after a few trips in his backpack time will tell. I'll post a follow-up review and let you know.***UPDATE 2/26/2016***I'm happy to report that after hauling this thing around in his backpack since Christmas, this book is still holding together very well. No pages have fallen out, the spine isn't broken, the cover is still intact, etc... This book still gets frequent use, because my son tries to convince me daily that reading this should count toward his 30 minutes-of-reading-at-home requirement.

My sons copy has at least 4 DOZEN post-it flags throughout this book. I bought it for him about 5 months ago and he still reads it all the time. Adding new flags and trying to explain the pokemon significance to me.The fact that he still reads it is important. Our library has an extensive pokemon handbook and all around reference type collection. (Staying in stock is a huge problem so we're still always seeing something old but new to us) After checking one out he doesn't usually ask to buy, renew it or check it out again later and if he sees something new he will flip quickly through to see if there is anything new. He always falls back to this one. So it must be good.He doesn't watch the tv show or movies or read the comic books. He reads the old pikachu early readers and has pokemon Omega on the DS. So that's his extent of the pokeverse for him this book is great. Since each newer book edition just adds on the new pokemon plus the 700+ old ones. Your kid will notice that none/majority of the main/new featured pokemon on tv/game are in this book. If they are playing newer games or watching the show. The book is great but for kids heavily in the pokeverse make sure you get the newet edition. It makes a huge difference.

EDITED 2/1/2017: SCHOLASTIC CUSTOMER SERVICE: 5 stars - I emailed them with photos to show the condition of the book and they sent me a brand new book. Months later, with the same amount of use, the book still looks brand new. I have upgraded my rating to 5 stars.BOOK BINDING QUALITY: 0 starsBOOK INFORMATION QUALITY: 5 starsWe bought "Pokémon Deluxe Essential Handbook: The Need-to-Know Stats and Facts on Over 700 Pokémon" in Paperback from Amazon on August 25, 2016. Within a month, a few pages had fallen out and we chalked it up to chance. Now, two months in, there are probably 30 pages that have come out, including single pages and bigger sections. This is ridiculous for a kids book that you know will be read and reread and shared around with friends and flipped through time and time again. This book definitely should have a spiral binding. My son is very disappointed that he spent his birthday money on something that hasn't lasted.That said, he loves this book and looks at it daily and it's so full of information that it keeps him busy reading for hours.

Our boys all love this book. We have 4 sons and work hard to teach them about sharing and that they won't always have what one of their brother's have. As a result, even with gifts there is power in having possession of the object. With this book, the boys were sleeping with the first copy, carrying it into the bathroom, lugging it to school, it was a constant battle. Typically a new toy or book gets a few days old and loses its "battle appeal" unless it has been stored away for a period of time and comes out once again making it new. Didn't happen with this book so we ordered one for each boy, which turned out to be fair as they each handle and care for their personal property differently. Now they sit down together and have Pokemon battles, citing to the evolutions in the book. Even though we bought 4 of these books, we saved a ton of money and hassle because each book is cheaper than a box of Pokemon cards without the litter potential of the cards. These books have really added a spark to our children's imagination and allows for easy game play.

This book is amazing! I got it for my 6 year old son who is super into pokemon right now for christmas. He could care less about all the toys and other presents he got. This was his favorite gift. He spends the majority of the day looking through it and learning all about pokemon and is constantly showing me all the polemon and asing me to help him read it. It lists over 700 pokemon and everything about them including what type of pokemon it is, how to pronounce the name, what region(s) its from, their height and weight, possible moves/attacks, what they evolve into with pictures, etc.The only con I've found is there is no index where it tells you what page each one is on to find it better. There are 432 pages of pokemon! So it can be a little hard to find a certain pokemon that you're looking for, BUT it is in alphabetical order so it's not too hard. But it would better if it listed the page numbers and maybe listed them by type of pokemon or something like that in the back.