Customer Reviews

Greg's Microscope (I Can Read Book 3)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the perfect companion gift for anyone who intends to give a child a microscope. Although it's written for 2nd through 4th grade children to read on their own, children in the 5th and 6th grades will certainly benefit from the information in this book as well. As the boy in the story learns to use his new microscope, readers will gather ideas of things to look at under their own microscope. The book encourages children to make their own slides for viewing under the microscope. Some of the items the boy in the story examines include salt, sugar, pepper, hair, thread, and onion. Drawings of what each item should look like through the microscope are included. In the case of the salt and sugar, water is added to see what would happen. Then, the resulting salt and sugar-water is allowed to evaporate, and the slide is examined again, to discover the resulting crystals. Once the children look at those things under a microscope, they will be able to think of other things to examine on their own. It's a wonderful starting place. It will open up the world of the very small to children. Absolutely excellent!

This is a wonderful book for any budding scientist. It is the story of friends using Greg's new microscope to look up close and personal at everyday objects found around the house. The book contains illustrations of items they observe under the microscope...like sugar. It would be a great book to go along with a new microscope.

I loved this book as a child. My scientist uncle had given us a microscope, so the ideas I learned from this book I was able to put into practice. Now my daughter is getting a microscope for her birthday, and I look forward to having the same fun with her that my mother and I had.

As for the comment that it's for boys, I don't get it. I'm a woman, and I enjoyed this book as a girl. It certainly didn't warp me with any underlying social commentary. It's a book about a kid and his microscope...

After reading this book about a boy who gets a microscope and starts exploring his world with it, my daughter started begging for a microscope. She was fortunate enough to receive a nice one for Christmas, and she has been having a great time recreating Greg's simple microscopic experiments and explorations.

A++++

This would make a nice book for children already interested in microscopes. It introduces the idea of magnification and gives examples, via drawings, of various sorts of thread and hair, pepper, salt and sugar crystals.

Using sugar and salt as examples, the book also briefly introduces the concept of crystals and crystal formation. In the case of salt, children are shown what it looks like right out of the shaker-- it looks like blocks. Then, after being dissolved in water and allowed to reform (after the water evaporates), they are shown that salt takes on an entirely different appearance -- like little diamonds. Because this is a book for very young children, it discusses these topics only on the vaguest of levels and does not, of course, go into a discussion of molecular structure and the causes of various crystal formations.

The AR [Accelerated Reading] Level for this book is 2.3 which means that the AR group feels that the book is best suited for children reading at the 2nd Grader level.

[The AR designation is a general "guide" that rates books on a relative scale of difficulty. Children can certainly read at levels above or below their group range, so that this number should only be used as a aid to help choose books that are appropriate and not frustrating.]

Three Stars. This book introduces microscopes and the idea of magnification. There are sketches of salt and sugar crystals, pepper, threads, and hairs from different sources. It would probably be well received by children already interested in microscopes. The story itself is not particularly noteworthy and the one main drawback I found that there was too much uninteresting dialog that had nothing to do with microscopes or the cool images. This is probably why the book didn't engage either of my two children (boy and girl; 5 and 7 respectively).


Pam T~
mom and reviewer at BooksForKids-reviews

It's so hard to find storybooks about science that also have valid science content. This one does. It's simple to read and understand, but it conveys some real information as well as a joy of discovery.

My son loves this book. I bought it for him when he was six and he still reads it now that he is eight. One of the nice things about the story is that the parents are involved with the enjoyment of the microscope. Just as in the story, we also bought him a nice microscope, which we have a lot of fun with.

We purchased this right along with our new Sonlight Ultra Microscope. My 8 year old loved reading this book by himself and we had to look at all the same things as "Greg" as soon as we were done with the book. As for as the previous reviewer saying this book was sexist, I strongly disagree. Showing a mother in the kitchen with an apron on or knitting in the living room is now considered sexist? Greg's mother encourages and educates her child - an honorable thing in any era!!! Greg's microscope brings his family together and encourages dialoge - I think it will do the same for your family!!

Greg's Microscope tells the story of Greg experiencing how a variety of common substances look when they are enhanced under the microscope--sugar, salt, sand, It's a good way to introduce young children to the fascinating world that can only be seen under a microscope.

We purchased this book as an accompaniment to the My First Lab Duo-Scope Microscopefor our son this Christmas. The book is a nice introduction for school aged kids to what a microscope can do. It will peek their interest. Highly recommend purchasing them together.

My 7 yr old son enjoyed this book...good level 3 reader and encourages an interest in science. I definitely recommend it.