Gravity and Gross Stuff

Though the customary trend toward lower page counts and more finely divided topics continues in this latest crop of science series, in general the quality of the color photographs and artwork remains first-rate. This illustrative material constitutes the main draw for these titles, considering that the informational content tends to be, almost without exception, drawn from secondary sources. The better entrants here (as in previous years) feature coherent presentations that challenge without overwhelming their target audiences, dynamic page design, activities designed to nurture reader interest, and links to age-appropriate further resources.

Gr 3-4–Blurring the line between science and technology, these presentations explain in resolutely nontechnical language how physical principles figure into familiar events and phenomena. In Home Run, for instance, diagrams show the different ways in which fastballs and curveballs interact with the air, and the author describes how kinetic energy is both transferred and absorbed when bat meets ball. Color photos depicting (identifiable but unnamed) professional athletes and musicians in action accompany the lively texts, and directions for simple demonstrations appear in occasional sidebars. Flaws include three mentions of top fuel dragsters in Race Car but no picture of one, a false claim in Baseball that spin can make a pitch rise, and an invitation to readers in Electricity to trace household wiring, but no cautionary note.

Gr 3-4–Big, clear microphotographs, mostly head-on portraits of insects and other creatures, provide the chief draw for these quick looks at common residents of our bodies and homes. Subjects range in size from honeybees and cockroaches to cyanobacteria, and include some unusual choices–such as an amoeba in a shell (or “test”), and the charmingly named confused flour beetle. Though Bensinger properly notes in Your Body that most staph and E. coli organisms are actually harmless or beneficial, the narratives in general provide only disappointingly abstract introductions to each creature's behavior and habitat.

Gr 2-3–Defining “life cycle” as birth to reproduction (death is often not even mentioned), these volumes combine big, bright color photos with short blocks of easy-to-read text and captions. The information is sometimes simplified to the point of confusion–readers are informed that adult butterflies live for only two to five weeks, for instance, but on the next page they will learn that the monarch's annual migration can take months. Also, aside from similar study guides at the end of each volume, there are no resources for further enquiry.

Gr 1-2–These introductions overlay sound effects and one-sentence comments or questions onto full-page color photos of animals or young children. The final page in each volume, addressed to adults, suggests activities specifically related to each preceding spread. Seeing is not carefully written (“The telescope helps us to see in the distance”) and has at least two captions that don't match the accompanying pictures. Otherwise, aside from occasional bloopers (“squeeze” doesn't really capture the sound a concertina makes, as described in Hearing), the presentations are likely to spark a lively give-and-take between children and their educators.

Gr 3-4–Efforts to pack as many facts as possible into these quick surveys of characteristic wildlife in various habitats result in misleading juxtapositions in nearly every volume. For instance, a solo picture of a young squirrel in Backyard carries two captions, one of which is about rats. Similarly, in Desert, a discussion of the Sonoran pronghorn accompanies a photo of a saguaro cactus. Other potentially confusing features include group portraits with the animals not drawn to scale, imprecise language (“Worms…eat rotting plant material–and each other!”) and often-vague suggestions on the closing spreads for creating miniature versions of each habitat. Glossaries and indexes aren't close to complete, and there are no leads to further resources.

Gr 2-3–These deliberately alarmist looks at the germs, molds, bugs, and larger creatures that often take up residence in your home make stimulating reading. The large-type narratives are punctuated with side boxes of “Fun Facts”–one in Walls and Floors, for example, states that “Worker termites do not sleep. They work 24 hours a day!” The books are heavily illustrated with a mix of close-up photos–most memorably, a cockroach caught crawling out of a ketchup bottle in Kitchen–and cartoon pictures of an unkempt household. Despite relatively generous resource lists at the end of each volume, the not-exactly-evenhanded-choices of facts and frequent use of boilerplate text and images make the series more for recreational use than for reports.

Gr 1-3–Parker explains in simple language how and where the world's most common foods (except beans, for some reason) are commercially raised or cultivated, harvested, and offered to consumers. He also describes their nutritional contents, supplies multiple recipes and projects that range from easy to ambitious, and closes each volume with a page of activities and discussion topics for adults. Though rightly regarding tomatoes as fruits, in general he's looser with his definitions–slipping nuts into the meat and fish volume, counting mushrooms as a vegetable, and treating sweet corn as both a grain and a vegetable. The layout is a little cramped, but overall these are bright, inviting, and well-designed introductions to a topic of universal interest.

K-Gr 2–New readers will have no trouble grasping the plainly presented concepts in these above-average primers. Captioned by one or two short declarative sentences that are slightly rewritten for each volume (“You use your ears to hear sound”; “You use your eyes to see”), a series of clear color photos depict a multicultural cast of a range of ages demonstrating each of the standard senses. Along with being exposed to some new vocabulary (“nostril,” “umami”), children will come away more conscious of their senses, the role of the brain in interpreting sensory input—and also (without the words “blind” and “deaf” being used) that some people lack certain abilities. Each volume closes with a simple quiz and activity notes for adults.

Gr 3-4–Though each of these titles closes with lists of recommended books and Web sites, instruction takes a back seat to laff-inducing facts (“When you sneeze, a shower of mucus blasts through the air. It can travel 11 feet”), accompanied by a mix of gross cartoons and sometimes nauseating photos. As the topical coverage isn't broad enough, and because illustrations are frequently reused within and among volumes, consider these guilty pleasures.

Gr 1-2–This weak series pairs photos of average or below-average quality to short texts that are not always carefully written. Not only do lines such as “Why are webbed feet good for swimming?” or “The queen [bee] sits on her eggs to keep them warm” require answers or explication that they do not receive, but readers are asked to count a blurred jumble of hens in Chicken's Life Cycle, and in Frog's Life Cycle to predict what will happen to “frogspawn” that is missing from the accompanying picture. Each volume closes with a craft activity and a reading list but they don't compensate for the books' problems.

Gr 6-8–More accurately titled “A Kingdom of Their Own,” this series devotes a volume to each of the five life-form kingdoms. Rather than trying for comprehensive surveys–an impossible enterprise–the authors present in some detail both shared characteristics and, using carefully selected examples, the remarkable range of forms, internal structures, habitats and habits of each group's denizens. Lively section headings (“Pilobolus kleinii: A Dung Fungus Squirt Gun”) and notes on uncommon achievements, such as the ability of the giant Pacific octopus to open jars and even pill containers, lighten the substantial load of biological terminology. Illustrated with a plethora of close-up color photos and microphotos, and closing with annotated lists of recommended Web sites, these volumes capture the remarkable diversity of life while providing meaty introductions for serious students of natural history.

Gr 5-6–With some exceptions, these routine examinations of abstract biological topics have little to offer that's not easily available elsewhere. Ballard's three volumes close with outlines for promisingly challenging projects (and the other titles offer projects too), but the preceding narratives are dry and juiceless despite the many sharp color photos that accompany them. In Adaptation, Spilsbury's look at natural mechanisms for predation, defense, reproduction, and climate change is so quick that he barely mentions mutualism and commensalism. In contrast to Ballard's dismissive treatment of alternative plant classification schemes, though, he builds his survey of animal taxonomy around cladistics and biological keys, and unlike several equivalent titles in many other series, he doesn't bypass death in his discussion of life cycles.

Gr 4-6–These overviews cover major structures and functions in broad detail. The many color photos of posed teens and preteens; microphotos; and clear, labeled graphic images are strong enhancements, occupying about half of each page's real estate. Volumes close with a spread on relevant disorders, two or three experiments or activities, and a perfunctory reading list. Despite occasional oversimplifications, such as the statement in Food that “All of the ingredients in a food product have to be listed on the packaging,” these are acceptable supplements.

Gr 4-6–The mismatch in this series between easy-to-read text and higher-level content may attract middle-school students who read below grade level. Volumes open with a dozen or so random questions and short answers on the chosen topic, followed by four pages of equally random facts, four thumbnail profiles of relevant scientists or inventors, a spread of word jumbles and other tests, and an easy activity. Surrounded by small color photos or diagrams, the text comes in short, digestible bits but contains occasional technical language, such as that in the discussion of Fahrenheit versus the Celsius and Kelvin scales in Water. Furthermore, Electricity assumes familiarity with parallel circuits. The scattershot topical coverage (the “all about” claim in each title is laughably false), along with rare but obvious factual errors (comets don't blow jets of matter “toward the sun,” as claimed in Stars Twinkle) will make these titles of limited appeal.

Gr 5-7–Even rabid nonreaders won't be embarrassed to be caught with these droll informational comics. In each, five costumed teen heroes of diverse skin color and body shape introduce themselves as experts on some body part or function (“I'm Gastro. I have the low down on your tum, your bum, and all the tubes between”). The superheroes then conduct a young sufferer to the human-shaped planet of Mediland for an inside tour and explanations of a chronic malady's causes, effects, and treatment. So uneven are the volumes in depth and clarity of information, attention to plot, cleverness of repartee, and even composition of the color-drenched cartoon panels, that it's hard to believe they're all from the same author and illustrator. Still, though Epilepsy and Food Allergies lead the pack over the earnest, repetitive, and visually jumbled others, the mix of medical facts, wisecrack-laced dialogue, and outright corn has its appeal.

Heinemann's “Five Senses,” QEB's “QEB Food Zone,” Crabtree's “A Class of Their Own,” Rosen's “Understanding the Human Body,” and selected volumes in its “Living Processes” will make good additions. Cherrytree Books's “Sparklers: My Senses”; Heinemann's “Disgusting Body Facts” and its “What's Lurking in This House”; Rosen's “Tiny Invaders,” “Superheroes on a Medical Mission,” and “Solving Science Mysteries”; and Capstone's “Action Science” are worth at least judicious consideration as useful–and, occasionally, fun–supplementary resources. Pass on QEB's “QEB Life Cycles,” Gareth Stevens's “Nature in Focus,” and Rosen's “Let's Look at Life Cycles.”