What's the Big Idea?

Gr 3—6—Bypassing the "shock and awe" approach so common in nonfiction these days, Cobb provides substantial content in a conversational and upbeat style. The four main topics—energy, motion, matter, and life—are presented as "big ideas" and explained through a series of two- to four-page chapters that open with a kid-friendly question designed to provide insight into some of the great scientific breakthroughs ("Which Falls Faster, a Bowling Ball or a Marble?") or to reveal background information ("Why Doesn't the Sun Burn Out?"). Each question is introduced with an illustrated page of four students reacting (in speech bubbles) with humor and sarcasm to the question, which they often term "dumb." They react to the answer with more examples and humor at the end of each chapter. Many answers lead neatly to the next question. The volume closes with the question, "How long can we live?" and concludes that "Death is a natural part of the life process." Scattered throughout are "Check it out" boxes offering suggestions for hands-on and "thought experiments." Spots of black-line cartoon-style artwork filled with color break up most pages and keep the large-point sans-serif text from overwhelming the spreads. This will be a quality addition to any collection but it has a dated look that will make it a hard sell.—Carol S. Surges, McKinley Elementary School, Wauwatosa, WI