Synopsis
An introduction to the materials in the world around us, with suggestions for activities for exploring their properties.
School Library Journal
Gr 2-4Goggle-eyed children, animals, and an occasional adult, drawn in the style of Quentin Blake's work, romp through the pages of these titles. The colorful illustrations use exaggerated humor to convey information and expand the texts. A combination of queries and explanations is used to impart basic information. Questions about the size, color, and feel of rocks or the color and composition of a soil sample prompt observation. Materials is the better of the two. Liquids, solids, and gases are explained as well as their combined usage. Examples of naturally occurring, human- and animal-made materials (beeswax and silk) are included. The need for recycling is given a two-page spread. In Rocks, oversimplification becomes problematic when analogies such as comparing melting sugar with the formation of igneous rock are drawn. Terms such as igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary are not used or defined in the text, although they appear in the experiments listed at the back of the book. Both titles note the need for adult help and supervision. Additional, more challenging experiments and observations are listed at the end of each book. These titles are easier, but less accurate than the "Eyewitness Explorers" (DK).Kathryn Kosiorek, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn, OH