CM February 23, 
1996. Vol. II, Number 19

image Rocket Science:
50 Flying, Floating, Flipping, Spinning Gadgets Kids Create Themselves.

Jim Wiese.
Toronto: John Wiley and Sons, 1995. 115pp, paper, $18.50.
ISBN 0-471-11357-3.

Subject Headings:
Power (Mechanics)-Experiments-Juvenile literature.
Science-Experiments-Juvenile literature.

Grades 4 - 6 / Ages 9 - 11.
Review by Lorraine Douglas.

****/4


excerpt:

We often take water for granted. We usually have it in a plentiful supply. We drink it, cook with it, water our lawns and gardens with it, and complain about it during droughts and floods. But water has other uses as well. It can power a rocket, tell time, and even generate electricity. Do you find that hard to believe? Try the following projects and see what water can do.


 This nifty and appealing book should attract and engage children, parents, and teachers. Wiese, a science educator in British Columbia, explains in his introduction how you can be a good scientist, and how to use the book to do a science project. He also mentions that adult help is needed for many of the experiments (something also noted in the experiments themselves).

Rocket Science is divided into sections -- mechanics, air power, water power, electricity and magnetism, chemistry, acoustics, and optics. The projects are fun. They include a flip book, a periscope, a natural battery from a lemon, a waterwheel, and a mousetrap car. Each project clearly explains the pertinent scientific principle. The book is illustrated with perky black-and-white drawings and includes a glossary and index.

A useful and very appealing title.

Highly recommended.


Lorraine Douglas is Youth Services Coordinator for the Winnipeg Public Library.


To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cmeditor@mts.net.

Copyright © 1996 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

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