Customer Reviews

Biology: Life as We Know It!

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have good news for fans of the quirky kid's guide to chemistry, "The Periodic Table, Elements with Style". Kingfisher Publishing has produced two related books, which cover biology and physics. The artist known simply as Basher has teamed up with a new writing partner, Dan Green. These pocket sized guidebooks are captivating and make a real impression on kids. Because the books are formatted in the same way, I am reviewing them together.

Both books have about 120 pages plus a glossary. The left hand page usually has a topic, a few bullet points on it, and two paragraphs presenting information from the point of view of the topic. Each subject has it's own personality and the right hand page has a personified illustration of that subject. In the Biology book, Sperm, for instance, says, "I'm a little guy with a big job." For those who wish to consider the appropriateness of the books for younger children, he does get a bit more specific. "I Start out in one of the two testes, a man's sperm factories, and travel upstream towards the penis... If everything is going swimmingly, I enter a female body and it takes an hour or so to get to Egg." The whimsical cartoony illustration shows a smiling tadpole-like creature wearing sunglasses. There is also a tiny, simplified 1" tall rendering of the male reproductive system. The information on Egg and Baby in Womb is also quite simple but may be upsetting to some. "Biology, Life as We Know It" also contains a small pull out poster of the body systems. Some examples of other topics in the biology book include Skin, Nails, Reptiles, Liver, and Flower.

The physics book is titled, "Physics, Why Matter Matters" and it has definitions of terms like Kinetic Energy, Frequency, Alpha Particle, and Gravity. The introduction notes, "Physics is all about knowing -or trying to find out- what makes the universe tick. It started out with some naturally nosy people who wanted to know..." The description of Force says that it, "Gangs up with Mass and Acceleration to push things about." Infrared boasts, "You can run but you can't hide. I'm the original heatseeker and I'm out to give you a good grilling!"

These books might help older students memorize details just as well as they inform and entertain younger children. Highly recommended!

My 6-y-o son adores this series and this title has become a special favorite. A previous reviewer criticized the book; indeed, I do not disagree that readers capable of accessing academic texts at the high school level may find this series less than educational. However, this series fills a unique niche of making science fun for visual learners -- and perhaps most importantly, for learners who cannot (like my son, who has autism) yet access such topics without the lure of interesting graphic art and short, easily-recalled descriptions.

Other titles (like The Periodic Table) do not suffer from such criticism as the Pokemon-like illustrations may indeed prove a memory aid even for facile readers.

This book and its sister volumes are a tremendous value for young readers as well as adults who would like to encourage exploration in science themes as well as help de-mystify often out-of-reach concepts for those readers.

It was an awesome book. I liked it because it had many different cells that I didn't know about. I would recommend this book for 2nd graders.

This is a good introduction to Biology and it's terms. But, it just goes into very limited detail for explanations.

I highly recommend this book for any elementary aged child. It is not as thorough as a text or even a typical non-fiction book, but it introduces many basic ideas in a way that children will remember. I wasn't so sure about a science book with cartoons, but the first person text sold me. My daughter had an instant connection with the characters in the book, giving me confidence that she will remember them when she is old enough to learn about them in a more complex academic setting.

Topics include the building blocks of life, classification of organisms, body parts, and parts of green shoots. I am giving this four stars instead of five because I feel like more thought could have been given to the organization of the book. Perhaps the main categories are too broad. For example, there are entries for the cell, mitochondria, DNA, and RNA, but not other cell parts such as the nucleus, cell walls/membranes, vacuoles, and so on.

Overall, this is an entertaining and informative book well suited for children aged 6 to 12.

I purchased this for myself and my daughter and then I purchased 1 for my sister. The illustrations and the way the information is presented is like no other. Love it!

Some complex topics are difficult to follow but good starting point to start understanding the terms and most important FUN to read for kids

I liked this book because it told me a lot about my body. As a second grader, I think it is really important for me to learn about my body.

I bought this book a year ago for my 7 and 10 yr old children. They still read and study it; in fact it is open on the arm of the sofa waiting for the reader to come back as I write. The characters in the book each represent an important concept and the page reads like a bio of that character explaining the character's importance, where s/he fits into the world as a whole and finishes with a few cool facts. The pages are creative and one cannot help but keep reading to meet more of the fascinating characters and learn how they relate to one another. The series (we own several titles) has opened my children's eyes to science topics other than the ones they already liked. And because they read them over and over again, the books have deepened their knowledge and understanding of each topic. I think the method of this book is the game changer- it is FUN!

This book, and the series as a whole, has made my science reluctant 7 yr. old interested in technical topics. She realizes that science is fun, interesting, something she can do, and as fun as girly things like princesses- a big step at our house. She started with Basher's Biology because that was about cute things like animals and has since had the interest to read Physics, Astronomy, and the Periodic Table. My son read Physics and the Periodic Table first, because "those are serious topics," and has since discovered that Biology is serious and, dare I say, interesting and not gross. I am ordering three more titles today.

Age range - probably 7 to adult. It is definitely not childish so a high school student would enjoy this as a reference as much as a 7 year old that is reading with an adult.

This series of books is one of the best I've seen for sparking an interest and understanding of science. My 6 year old and I love to open the book to a random page to decide what we want to learn about that day. It provides enough information and covers the general principles so well that he is able to ask great questions I would expect from a much older child. It's allows him to acquire the necessary vocabulary for understanding videos, chapter books, and more in depth information we look up on the Internet after we've read the highlights as an introduction in one of the books in this series. I would equate it to watching School House Rock before watching a documentary so the child understands the main idea using both scientific terminology and a layman's explanation.

If I were a science teacher I would start each new unit with an overview using this book to allow the students to see how each part makes up the whole and what the main ideas are. It's a wonderful supplement to more difficult books that will allow children to learn about whatever fascinates them no matter their age or education. It would also be a great tool for older kids when studying for a test. Instead of a boring definition dense with terminology they may find hard to remember, you get an illustration that will help you remember the terms and what they relate to and a couple of paragraphs that expand on the bullet points at the top of the page. By combining scientific terminology with layman's definitions, it is much easier to understand the terminology using context instead of rote memorization.

These books never sit on a shelf in our home. They are always out where they are easy to pick up for a quick read and we often take them with us to restaurants, appointments, or anywhere waiting is involved to keep us entertained. You can cover one topic in a few minutes or a chapter or two if you have a bit more time. Each topic stands alone nicely so my son often picks it up reads a page or two throughout the day. My husband and I enjoy reading them as well and using them to answer questions.

The way topics are grouped allows one to see how everything is interconnected without being overwhelming, it's a very logical progression. Each topic is covered by 2 pages; the first lists the primary "job" of the system being discussed and the second has a cartoon drawing of the system. I would equate it to superhero trading cards with a bit more in depth information.

The pictures make each topic easier to remember and relate to and topics are grouped by function. Chapter 3 is Body Parts: the heart, red blood cell, B Cell (white blood cells aka B lymphocyte), T Cell, lungs, skeleton, muscle, brain, nervous system, etc. By making a blood cell a character with a job and describing the way he works with the lungs or another type of cell, the author has made complex and hard to imagine concepts "more real" and very accessible for those without much of a background in science.

Right now our favorites are Biology and Rocks & Minerals. I usually use the book on Physics when I am trying to explain tough concepts (for a 6 yr old) that are hard to put into words he can understand. Gravity, acceleration, friction, mass, energy, atoms, or force are all concepts I had a tough time explaining using vocabulary he could really grasp.

These books have sparked so many interesting conversations, helped with school projects (yes, they have projects in Kindergarten these days), and made watching the Discovery Channel so much more interesting to him because he understands key concepts and terminology. If he starts losing interest in something I know he would normally love because it's a bit dense with geek-speak, we just pause the TV and read a few pages in the related book, after a few minutes of reading he's asking questions and pointing out related facts he's learned from the book. The books definitely make science fun, accessible, and much more meaningful. It's made my son feel smart and capable which has drastically increased his confidence and made him enjoy school so much more.

Many of the books come with a free poster.