A breezy, accessible collection of science projects that will appeal to both middle-grade science enthusiasts and less-motivated students. Projects are inspired by entries from sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students in the Discovery Young Science Challenge, and young contributors are acknowledged in the forward. This is a page-turner, with boxes of odd and intriguing information, a lighthearted style, and cartoon drawings. The author begins with a discussion of the scientific method that will have readers laughing and learning. Step 1, according to the author, is curiosity; he outlines a variety of situations and gives the curious response. For instance, “Your little baby cousin tastes some foods and then throws them across the kitchen. One possible response: Always wear a plastic smock while visiting. The curious response: Wonder which tastes babies really like.” There are over 20 projects; most use ordinary products and are based on everyday events, such as wondering which breakfast cereals stay un-soggy longest or which fabric is the best to wear in hot weather. Each project includes the idea, title, question to be answered, hypothesis, procedure, conclusion, and what it means in the real world. At the end, the author provides the titles of 101 actual projects that won awards in school, regional, and national science-fair competitions. With titles like “The Physics of Cheating at Baseball” and “Are Hot Dogs as Safe as You Think?,” readers will look forward to creating better science adventures. A winner. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-525-46534-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
The straight-arrow son of a maybe-federal agent (he’s not quite sure) turns eco-terrorist in this first offering for kids from one of detective fiction’s funniest novelists. Fans of Hiaasen’s (Basket Case, 2001, etc.) novels for adults may wonder how well his profane and frequently kinky writing will adapt to a child’s audience; the answer is, remarkably well. Roy Eberhardt has recently arrived in Florida; accustomed to being the new kid after several family moves, he is more of an observer than a participant. When he observes a bare-footed boy running through the subdivisions of Coconut Grove, however, he finds himself compelled to follow and, later, to ally himself with the strange boy called Mullet Fingers. Meanwhile, the dimwitted but appealingly dogged Officer Delinko finds himself compelled to crack the case of the mysterious vandals at the construction site of a new Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House—it couldn’t have anything to do with those cute burrowing owls, could it? The plot doesn’t overwhelm with surprises; even the densest readers will soon suss out the connections between Mullet Fingers, the owls, and Mother Paula’s steadfast denial of the owls’ existence. The fun lies in Hiaasen’s trademark twisted characters, including Dana Matherson, the class bully who regularly beats up on Roy and whose unwitting help Roy wickedly enlists; Beatrice Leep, Mullet Fingers’s fiercely loyal sister and co-conspirator; Curly, Mother Paula’s hilariously inept foreman; and Roy’s equally straight-arrow parents, who encourage him to do the right thing without exactly telling him how. Roy is rather surprisingly engaging, given his utter and somewhat unnatural wholesomeness; it’s his kind of determined innocence that sees through the corruption and compromises of the adult world to understand what must be done to make things right. If the ending is somewhat predictable, it is also entirely satisfying—Hoot is, indeed, a hoot. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2002
ISBN: 0-375-82181-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
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