Caught in the Rapids: Can Science Save Your Life? (Science to the Rescue). Felicia Law & Gerry Bailey. Illustrated by Leighton Noyes. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2015. 32 pp., pbk., hc., pdf & html, $10.95 (pbk.), $26.95 (List RLB), $21.56 (School RLB.). ISBN 978-0-7787-1679-2 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-1674-7 (RLB.), ISBN 978-1-4271-7672-1 (pdf), ISBN 978-1-4271-7668-4 (html). Subject Headings: Rapids-Juvenile literature. Survival-Juvenile literature. Grades 3-6 / Ages 8-11. Review by Barbara McMillan. *** /4
	Escape from the Volcano: Can Science Save Your Life? (Science to the Rescue). Felicia Law & Gerry Bailey. Illustrated by Leighton Noyes. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2015. 32 pp., pbk., hc., pdf & html, $10.95 (pbk.), $26.95 (List RLB), $21.56 (School RLB.). ISBN 978-0-7787-1681-5 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-1675-4 (RLB.), ISBN 978-1-4271-7673-8 (pdf), ISBN 978-1-4271-7669-1 (html). Subject Headings: Volcanoes-Juvenile literature. Volcanic eruptions-Juvenile literature. Grades 3-6 / Ages 8-11. Review by Barbara McMillan. *** /4
	Lost in the Cave: Can Science Save Your Life? (Science to the Rescue). Felicia Law & Gerry Bailey. Illustrated by Leighton Noyes. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2015. 32 pp., pbk., hc., pdf & html, $10.95 (pbk.), $26.95 (List RLB), $21.56 (School RLB.). ISBN 978-0-7787-1699-0 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-1677-8 (RLB.), ISBN 978-1-4271-7675-2 (pdf), ISBN 978-1-4271-7671-4 (html). Subject Headings: Stalactites and stalagmites-Juvenile literature. Cave animals-Adaptation-Juvenile literature. Grades 3-6 / Ages 8-11. Review by Barbara McMillan. *** /4
	Trouble in Space: Can Science Save Your Life? (Science to the Rescue). Felicia Law & Gerry Bailey. Illustrated by Leighton Noyes. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2015. 32 pp., pbk., hc., pdf & html, $10.95 (pbk.), $26.95 (List RLB), $21.56 (School RLB.). ISBN 978-0-7787-1683-9 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-1676-1 (RLB.), ISBN 978-1-4271-7674-5 (pdf), ISBN 978-1-4271-7670-7 (html). Subject Headings: Outer space - Exploration- Juvenile literature. International Space Station-Juvenile literature. Solar system-Juvenile literature. Grades 3-6 / Ages 8-11. Review by Barbara McMillan. *** /4

excerpts:

Meanders. As the river erodes its banks, it creates large bends and horseshoe-shaped loops called meanders. The force of the water erodes and undercuts the outer bank of the curves. Along the inside bank of the curves, the water moves more slowly and deposits sediments. In this way, the river gradually shifts its position in the direction of the outer bank. A snake-like pattern is created as the water makes its way down the valley. (From Caught in the Rapids, p. 21.)

Where are volcanoes found? There are thousands of volcanoes in the world, but most are extinct, which means they no longer erupt. Around 15,000 volcanoes have erupted in the last 10,000 years, but only about 600 are active today. Volcanoes can be created either on dry land or in the oceans. (From Escape from the Volcano, p. 8.)

There are animals that live in caves that never leave – not even for food! They are known as troglobites. Dr. Bea had told me there were about 50,000 different species of troglobites in caves around the world – so many that no one will ever be able to discover them all. True troglobites...are almost all blind – or nearly blind – and have no body color at all. (From Lost in the Cave, p. 20.)

What are they doing up there? NASA and other space agencies throughout the world are all working on a plan to explore other worlds. The space station is one of the first steps. Up there, scientists are developing new technologies and conducting experiments that could not be done on Earth. The ISS [International Space Station] is also an observatory where they can observe and take photos of Earth, the solar system, and other parts of the universe. (From Trouble in Space, p. 7.)

Crabtree has published four new books in the "Science to the Rescue" series. Readers will find scientists, Joe (the narrator) and Dr. Bea, exploring a river system, an active volcano, a cave system, and conducting experiments as crew members aboard the International Space Station. It is Joe and Dr. Bea who get "caught in the rapids" downstream from the dam of a hydroelectric power station and "escape from the [rim of a] volcano" on Dante, an eight-leg robot capable of maneuvering on steep slopes. Joe wanders away from Dr. Bea while looking at the stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, and drapery deposits and gets "lost in the cave" and inadvertently breaks the harness that tethers him to the International Space Station causing genuine "trouble [for himself] in space."

      Authors Felicia Law and Gerry Bailey wrap the fictional stories of Joe and Dr. Bea around science information in an attempt to provide a context for learning about the life of a river, volcanology, speleology, and the training and work of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. This combination of fiction and nonfiction works best when the portrayal of Joe and Dr. Bea helps readers to see what scientists actually do. In Escape from the Volcano, for example, Dr. Bea uses an extensometer to measure changes in the slope of a volcano and thermometers placed around the vent of the volcano to record air temperatures (not "the heat being given off"). At the same time and place, Joe uses a seismograph to measure seismic waves produced when tectonic plates in Earth's crust move and an ultraviolet spectrometer to measure sulpher dioxide in the air, a gas that is a warning sign of a possible eruption. Moreover, both scientists wear hard hats and protective gas masks. Similarly, the fictional story of Trouble in Space informs readers of the rigorous, two to three years of training required of NASA astronauts. Joe and Dr. Bea carry our experiments while on the space station, but these are not well-described or connected to the nonfiction text. Caught in the Rapids shows Joe using a camera with a telephoto lens and Dr. Bea using what appears to be a laser rangefinder, but there is no mention of these instruments or the instruments used to determine that agricultural waste and sewage were a source of a "murky, poisonous sludge" and the reason for dredging. Likewise, the cover of Lost in the Cave shows Joe and Dr. Bea with equipment, but readers are only told "Dr. Bea took out her measuring tools. She wanted to create an accurate survey of the cave, with all its chambers and passages" (p. 14) in order to construct a map of the cave at a later date. The laser measuring equipment and large lens camera are mentioned in the nonfiction text where readers are also shown the symbols used to identify cave features such as crystals, pools, boulders, and stalactites. Unfortunately, there is no explanation of what Dr. Bea does or records when coming upon the small cave dwelling glowworm she had entered the cave in hopes of finding.

      As the four excerpts above make obvious, the science knowledge included in the books is informative and appropriate for the Grade 4 reading level identified by the editors. Readers of Caught in the Rapids learn about the source and course of a river, the canyons that rivers can create over time, the animals and plants that inhabit the banks and flowing water, and the consequences of hydroelectric dams. In the pages of Escape from the Volcano, topics include volcano formation and shape, types of eruption, famous eruptions, and the use of robots in volcanology. Lost in the Cave focuses on cave formation in limestone and glacier ice, the stunning variety of cave deposits, and cave life, like the triglobites described in the third excerpt. Readers of Trouble in Space learn about the training involved in becoming a crew member of the International Space Station (ISS), arriving and departing from the ISS, the modules that make up the ISS, the maintenance and scientific research carried out in the laboratories and greenhouses of the ISS that will inform aspects of life on Earth, our understanding of the universe, and "human missions to places even farther into space" (p. 29).

      The 32 pages of each book in the series include a table of contents, glossary of terms, shorts lists of three or five books and three websites where readers can find additional relevant information, and an index. The fictional stories are identified by their cream coloured background, print-like font, and cartoon illustrations of Joe and Dr. Bea. The pages containing scientific information are printed with a unique font on black or white backgrounds or stock imagery, whether photographs or diagrams. The stock photos, one to eight per page, come from a variety of sources, including Shutterstock, NASA, Wikipedia, and Wikimedia.

      As in the previous review of this series, it's impossible not to wonder about the title of the series, "Science to the Rescue," and the subtitle "Can Science Save Your Life?" Law and Bailey never make this explicit. It is robotic engineering that helps Joe and Dr. Bea come down the steep slope of the erupting volcano, the "small jet thrusters" (aerospace engineering) that enabled Joe to safely return to the ISS when his harness broke during the meteor storm, quick paddling that saved both Joe and Dr. Bea from going over a waterfall, and Dr. Bea's helmet with attached light (design technology and electrical engineering) that guided Joe toward her location in the cave. Some form of engineering in three of these situations rescued the scientists from danger. If the series subtitle refers to research by scientists that helps us to know when a volcano is about to erupt, the conditions that will enable humans to survive missions to Mars and beyond, and how to protect watershed ecosystems when hydroelectric dams are built, then the subtitle makes more sense. It would benefit readers to make this obvious.

Recommended.

Barbara McMillan is a teacher educator and a professor of science education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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