Pokemon: The Complete Pokemon Pocket Guide is split into two volumes. The first volume covers Pokemon #001 to #245 (Bulbasaur to Suicune). The second covers Pokemon #246 to #491 (Larvitar to Darkrai). Both volumes were published by Viz Media in 2008.
Each book opens with an introductory page that explains how to use the book and says that the book is one volume in a set. In these books, the Pokemon are listed in numerical order. The information included for all the Pokemon are its name, its species, its type, its abilities, its height, its weight, a description, its special moves, and its evolutions. There is also a picture of the Pokemon in its entry. As far as I know, Shaymin is the only Pokemon missing from these volumes, since the film introducing Shaymin wasn't released in the United States until after these volumes were published.I bought these volumes for my son for his birthday. He likes the books, but his major complaint is that, even though these are labeled as being "pocket guides," they don't actually fit into a pocket. I have to agree with him. While these books are smaller in size than the regular handbooks, they are still too big to fit into anyone's pocket.
Even though the Pokemon in the book are arranged in numerical order, there is an index in the back of the book listing the Pokemon in alphabetical order. By using this index, you'll be able to locate where a Pokemon is in the book if you don't know what its number is. The back of the first volume also includes some ads for other Pokemon items released by Viz Media.Overall, these pocket guides have good information, but they're very similar to other Pokemon handbooks that have already been released. Specifically, these are very similar to the Pokemon Ultimate Handbook. The main differences are that the information is split into two books instead of being in one volume, and these books are smaller in size than the Pokemon Ultimate Handbook.
I would recommend these books to a Pokemon fan, even if they already have the Pokemon Ultimate Handbook. While the information contained in these books are split into two volumes, these books are still smaller and a little more portable than the Pokemon Ultimate Handbook. Like with most of the other Pokemon handbooks that have been released, these are just as useful to adults as they are to children.
I wrote this review after looking through copies of these books that my husband and I bought our son for his birthday.
