Author Nick Arnold (the guy behind the Horrible Science and Wild Lives series) writes humorously and appealingly for younger readers. The physics and chemistry lessons he presents are wonderfully gooey, cool, sticky, and grounded in real science. The messy bits are highlighted with sidebar warnings (food colouring stains!, get an adult's help!, etc).
The book has a graphically appealing layout, with experiments grouped together in chapters: mad mixtures, floating and forces, colourful chemistry, heating and eating, easy freezy!, ending with a short glossary and index. The experiments themselves include a materials sidebar, step by step instructions, a short description of the concept(s) involved and bright colorful graphics and inset photography.
As an aside, the spelling, terminology, and slang in the book are British. There's no problem in context, but readers from other areas (the USA) should be aware of some differences (torch, washing up liquid, sticky tack, fizzy lemonade). The book is well worth the negligible potential hassle of remembering that torch means flashlight and not a flaming firebrand (which could be quite spectacular in this context).
Well written and appealing. This would be a great book to use for primary to middle grade kids in a classroom context. It would also make a great weekend activity book for parents and kids to do together. I could see some of these being great library workshop or camp type activities.
Five stars. Good stuff here.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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