Sorting Through Life's Lessons: Children's Science Book Reviews

Showing posts with label Children's Science Book Reviews. Show all posts

Monday, September 12, 2016

Fred Flintstone's Adventures with Wedges

Fred Flintstone's Adventures with Wedgesis part of a Simple Machine series starring the Flintstone's characters.

This series breaks down the individual components of simple machines into separate books. The focus is for younger readers and the text, dialogue and pictures are designed to introduce, define, and provide examples of wedges. The book does a great job introducing the concept and provides some interesting examples to help young readers understand what a wedge is and how to identify one.

Fred discusses door wedges, wheel chocks, axes, nails, chisels, darts, knives, and teeth. Each is illustrated and the characters explain why these fit the definition of a wedge.

My one question about this series is name recognition. I loved the Flintstone's as a child. However, talking to my niece's boys they don't seem to know much about them. Parents might enjoy sharing their memories of the series with their kids. I'm just not sure if the connection will be the same if there isn't a connection to the cartoon.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Yogi Bear's Guide to Plants

I am always on the look out for books that engage kids with science concepts and vocabulary. Yogi Bear's Guide to Plantsprovides younger readers with fun characters to guide them through learning the basic language, vocabulary, and scientific concepts associated with plants.

The book begins with the introduction of seeds and how seeds turn into plants. I particurally liked the picture that shows the progression in bean plant growth. While not labeled it is a great visual that demonstrates plant growth from the hard seed to the beginnings of a leaf plant.

The book gave a very basic attempt at explaining chlorophyll and photosynthesis. I looked at this a couple of times before deciding this was actually an age appropriate explanation of the topic. Some books choose to ignore the science of plants, thus making it harder for kids to learn later. Some bombard them with so much information they can't absorb it all and it gets shut off. To pardon a pun, this planted the beginnings of the concepts in language that is accessible by younger children without teaching them inappropriate science language or ignoring the science concepts. It begins to explain photosynthesis without all the chemistry that most younger readers aren't going to absorb. However, it does it in a way that once they are ready for the chemistry of photosynthesis, nothing they have learned will need to be relearned. It will be building on knowledge already introduced.

The book goes on to discus the purpose of leaves, stems, and roots. I thought the explanations and illustrations were again age appropriate and designed to engage and entertain. While there are practical examples, there are also some very wild looking roots introduced as well.

Yogi goes on to discuss seeds and how they are spread, as well as other forms of plant reproduction. I was impressed with this section. Often in books written for younger readers you see the basic seeds discussed and the topic is left there. However, this discussed a wide range and scope of how plants reproduce. The book begins with bean seeds, continues with fruits, but then continues to conifers, ferns, moss, then flowering plants and trees. Clearly each is addressed at a basic level, but it does open the topic for further exploration and discussion.

While I've enjoyed all the books in the Yogi series, I will say this is my favorite that I've reviewed to date. I'm hoping more will be written and that they will eventually be published in something other than library binding, so I can put them on my Christmas list for my younger family members.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Yogi Bear's Guide to Bugs

Yogi Bear's Guide to Bugs (Yogi Bear's Guide to the Great Outdoors)is a great introduction for primary readers to the vocabulary associated with bugs and insects using Yogi and Boo Boo to entertain and engage the students.

As I write this I can only find the book published in a library binding. Since it is a recent series I'm hoping it will soon be available in paperback soon as I think they'd make great birthday and Christmas gifts for certain younger readers in my family.

In this volume Yogi and Boo Boo take on the challenge of bugs vs. insects. I thought the author did a good job of providing age appropriate definitions and examples to help them understand the differences between bugs and insects. The book gives a brief definition of the life cycle of an insect, explaining that bugs may have a slightly different cycle. The book also covers the eating habits of bugs and insects identifying the main types of food that insects eat.

This is clearly meant to be an introduction to the topic. However, I like the fact that the book focuses on teaching children the vocabulary, basic scientific concepts, and engaging children in a manner that will encourage them to explore more about the topic.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Vampires and Light

Vampires and Lightis another book in the Monster Science series. I was curious to see how Joby Jensen Shaffer would attack the topic because it is a complicated one.

The vampires provided an entertaining frame for the subject because of the vampire lore that they don't like light. The book begins by defining what light is and why we need it, even convincing the vampires that while it is a problem for them, they can't live without it. The author continues to explain the elements of light defining and illustrating vocabulary terms in clear, concise and humorous terms.

The author moves from discussing wavelengths to the electromagnetic spectrum. The author cleverly uses the vampires to illustrate the concepts giving students another way to view the material.

From there the author discusses the characteristics of light including speed, traveling in a straight line, why it passes through some objects and not others, light reflection and absorption. There was an interesting description of how the human eye processes light.

This was a challenging topic and I thought the author did a great job breaking it down and making it accessible for children. I continue to be excited by this series.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Yogi Bear's Guide to Rocks

As I was researching the Monster Science series I came across Yogi Bear's Guide to Rocks (Yogi Bear's Guide to the Great Outdoors)and decided to see if the author had extended his talent to a different series.

I am so excited by these new series of science books that are making science vocabulary accessible and fun for younger kids. This series is written for a younger audience than the Monster Science series. The book still uses accurate vocabulary, but there is less of it. The author focuses on the basics of the topic for younger readers. It is a great introduction to the topic for an elementary level reader who might need some motivation to read non-fiction material.

While out for a walk through Jellystone Park, Yogi teaches his friend, Boo Boo about the basics of rocks and minerals. One of the reasons I love these comic series is they provide kids with access to accurate scientific information and vocabulary in an engaging manner. If you've ever encountered a child who can recite more facts about dinosaurs then you ever realized existed, you know children can absorb quite a bit of challenging vocabulary and information if they are engaged with the topic. These books help engage children in a variety of topics.

Yogi covers the basics of the rock cycle, types of rocks, and specifics of each type of rock. It is an introduction to the topic, but I'm always excited about finding ways to engage students with material that educates and entertains.

This is one of the newer cartoon series and as of this writing is not yet available in paperback. Hopefully that will be happening soon.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Ghosts and Atoms

Ghosts and Atomsis another addition to the Monster Science series this one written by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen PhD.

I was very pleased that this book returned to the flavor of Zombies and Forces and Motion that made me start exploring the series.

The book uses ghosts as a theme to help children explore atoms. It begins with the history of scientists exploring matter and how theories and knowledge evolved to our current understanding of what atoms are and how they function. The book then moves on to defining an atom, describing what atoms are made of, explained positive and negative electrons, how liquids, gasses and liquids are formed, molecule formations, and several other topics.

I was pleased to see a fairly complex subject broken down with the help of the ghosts into language that is accessible to children. As I've said about this series in the past, the scientific language is kept intact, but the explanations are creative in helping make that language more user friendly.

This book does a great job of holding children's attentions and engaging them in a rather complicated topic. Just as you could see a child losing interest the author engages the ghosts to provide humor and reengages the child's attention. This is on my Christmas list for this year.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Wile E. Coyote Experiments with Energy

Smash!: Wile E. Coyote Experiments with Simple Machines (Wile E. Coyote, Physical Science Genius) helps kids explore the types of energy with fun examples, illustrations, and age appropriate science vocabulary and concepts.

The books is divided into chapters, energy in motion, electrical and chemical energy, heat energy, and renewable source energy. In each chapter Wile E. Coyote ends up badly abused in his efforts to use the various types of energy to attack the Road Runner, who makes fewer appearances in this graphic picture book.

One of the strongest examples was the explanation of springs and coils. The author doesn't just entertain with the characters, he uses them to explain the concepts in a clear and concise manner.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Mummies and Sound

Mummies and Sound is another entry in the Monster Sound series.

I was glad to see sound covered as while it is often taught as an elementary science topic, finding age appropriate material that students can access independently isn't always as easy as one would hope.

This book follows the previous books in the series using a graphic novel format, humor, and lots of science vocabulary and concepts to create a book to teach students about sound. This book didn't tie the mummies as directly to the science material as I would like. The best attempt was made in using mummies to explain frequency. In the rest of the book the mummies are mostly used to provided illustrations and humor.

The science descriptions are thorough but accessible for children. The pictures do help illustrate the topics and keep children engaged. I just think it would be more engaging if the mummies were more directly involved with demonstrating science material. I also think this could be a great book for older students needing to review the topic. The graphic novel format and the humor might be attractive and make the material accessible without it being too childish.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The Berenstain Bears Dinosaur Dig

The Berenstain Bears' Dinosaur Digis a more science focused book in the Berenstain Bear series.

In this story the Bear children begin researching dinosaurs at the local library, move on to the Bearsonian Museum where they meet Professor Actual Factual who invites the family to visit a local dinosaur dig.

I discovered this book when I reviewed The Berenstain Bears Under the Seareleased this year.

These two books are a slightly different direction for the Berenstain series. The books remind me more of the Magic School Bus with the Bears exploring scientific topics in an age appropriate manner for young readers. This book encourages readers to use the library, explore the museum, and introduces where the museums get the dinosaur bones they display. The author provides phonetic pronunciations to help adults and children to tackle to long names of the creatures that often fascinate young children.

While I realize science isn't the focus of the series, I am hopeful the writers and publishers continue to include new science titles in the series. It is a great way to encourage fans of the series to move into non-fiction reading.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Freddy the Frogcaster

I'm always looking for age appropriate weather books and decided to check out Freddy the Frogcasteras the first book in a weather series.

In this book we meet Freddy a young frog who is very interested in weather forecasting. He watches and learns about weather forecasting from his local weather forecaster and builds his own weather station at home to practice forecasting the weather. He gains confidence by comparing his own forecasts to those of a very accurate local weather forecaster. When she leaves on maternity leave Freddy is excited to meet the new forecaster. However, the new forecaster is not as dedicated to the work and her information lacks the quality of her predecessor.

This becomes an issue for Freddy and his friends when an outdoor event is planned and no warning is given about an upcoming storm. Freddy and the former forecaster run their own data and set out to warn the town so they can plan a safe outing for the citizens.

This was an introduction to weather forecasting targeting young children. I would be interested in reading some of the other books in the series to see if they go any deeper than this one or if they stay on the surface. As I've demonstrated with Dr. Suess' science series and Bel the Weather Girl one can embed quite a bit of content in the context of a children's picture book. There is a healthy balance. I thought this book was a little light on content. The book will entertain and encourage children to explore more about weather.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Fort on Fourth Street

The Fort on Fourth Street: A Story About the Six Simple Machinesis a great concept for teaching simple machines, but it didn't quite deliver as strongly as I'd hoped. The book demonstrates how simple machines are used in the construction of a fort.

The idea is engaging. Many kids want a practical reason for learning about simple machines. Making a fort is an attractive reason to learn about simple machines and to learn to use tools. However, the author chose a rather difficult format for this book, the nursery rhyme "The House that Jack Built." At the end of each introduction of a simple machine used to build the fort, we get a listing of all the simple machines used. It is repetitive and not that helpful.

What is lacking is a good definition of a simple machine. We are supposed to infer what a simple machine is through the list of items we are given that are simple machines. However, it doesn't quite work. At the end of the book, the author has a page that gives textbook definitions of simple machines, but the definitions aren't age appropriate for the target audience of the text. This information would have been much more useful embedded in the story of the grandpa building the fort. The author sprinkled little bits and pieces, but it needed to be more organized and direct to help kids walk away with a real understanding of why X is a simple machine and Y is not. Also why X is a specific type of simple machine. At the end the author has a little picture quiz with answers that tries to clarify some of the definitions, but that would have been better suited as part of the story.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Science Books for Kids