Sound

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

These four volumes in a new series promise ``a creative, hands-on approach to science''--they fail to mention, however, that the ``hands'' will frequently be those of An Adult who is referred to in the books' refrain, ``Ask an adult to help you.'' Each title is jammed with science projects. Some are simple (put food dye into water, insert a white carnation and watch its petals change color as it absorbs the water), others are stimulating (make a model electric train), a good number are arts-and-crafts (construct and play a board game only nominally about the environment). Instructions presuppose adult supervision--they call for hazardous supplies (copper sulphate powder) and potentially dangerous equipment (X-Acto knives, drills, hacksaws), and directions are far too general for the target audience. Only those with the handiest of helpers will construct anything like the precise, prettily propped models. Thanks to its intermingling of silhouetted color images, captions and blocks of text, the design suggests those by Dorling Kindersley--as the layouts can be difficult to follow, however, the resemblance is merely passing. Ages 7-10. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-- Four books that try, with varied success and levels of difficulty, to make hands-on science fun and instructive. Electricity includes more complex activities along with basic ideas, while Plants keeps things fairly simple. All but the briefest instructions are numbered. The clear, full-color photos against white backgrounds are both useful and attractive, although it is sometimes difficult to connect the text with the corresponding illustration. Children are not shown participating in Earth and Electricity ; they appear a few times in Plants , and throughout Sound . Written descriptions of scientific concepts such as electrons and photosynthesis are too short to be of much use, but the experiments demonstrate them well. At times, as with the ``circuit game'' in Electricity , educational elements are nicely incorporated into an enjoyable activity. In other instances, as in the ``ultrasound game'' (from Sound ), the amount of effort required is not really worth the fairly tame result. Most of the more interesting activities will take some time and perseverance to look as neat as the photographs promise. ``Be careful!'' warnings are in bold print, though ``ask an adult for help'' appears in regular type. Materials, listed and shown at the beginning of each project, are not all readily available, and may require trips to the hardware store and hobby shop. These titles won't have the wide appeal of Ardley's ``Science Book'' series (HBJ), but they are acceptable additions to most shelves. --Steven Engelfried, Alameda County Library, CA