Basher Science: Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction Paperback – July 6, 2010

We stumbled upon the Basher Periodic Table book at our local B&N by accident. I’ve got a 6 year old boy who is obsessed with science, and we’ve read everything even remotely age-appropriate and then some. They simply don’t make books on topics like physics and chemistry for his age, and I’ve been desperate to feed his interest.He spent the early part of the summer interested in radium and memorizing the atomic numbers of it and his other favorite elements. When I saw the periodic table book, I was sold. We brought it home and LOVED it. We are now on a mission to collect all of these books (then I’ll probably get the more humanities-driven books for his sister and him later).These are so well written and illustrated that kids are drawn to these otherwise dry concepts and ideas. So far his mind is blown by the mixture and compound pages, but trust me that we’ll read them all. He’ll be able to teach his first grade science class next year, and maybe even the fifth graders.

Great value.

My son asked for this book for his birthday and absolutely loves high level learning that is broken down into easier to learn terms.

We started with Basher Science's Periodic Table book and have been reading an element each night to our 4 yr old at bed time. Some of the facts are over his head, but the illustrations are fun and the text is interesting enough to keep him engaged. He even has a favorite element, thanks to the book. As science nerds, my husband and I are so thankful to have found this series of books. And, as we recently found out, there are games and science toys, too! Highly recommend for either a teacher looking for a new way to connect with students, or a parent who wants to make science fun and approachable for you kids.

My son absolutely loves the Basher series of science books, and in fact, he will use his allowance money to get them. I couldn't be happier than to see this as his choice to spend his money on! As a teacher, to be honest, these books didn't grab me at first personally. I thought the manga art like icons to stand for different concepts would be too abstract. However, I was mistaken. My son discovered these in his classroom in second grade, and now that he is in third, still enjoys them. Don't worry- an older child who is into science would like them too, and in fact, some of the ideas in these books might be a little heady for some kids my son's age. The concepts in these books are presented in a fun and catchy way that leaves my son itching for more.

This review applies to MOST of the Basher books as they all seem to share the same mix of excellence and failure.First, these books are GREAT in that they present some of the terminology/jargon of the subject matter in a way that seems to interest small children! (in my experience, ages 4-7 seems about right) This is actually a BIG DEAL, as the books reliably deal in wonderfully important subjects. For this, I highly recommend them and thank the authors and publishers for their effort!However... there are two ways in which I find these books to be terribly disappointing:1) The attempts to make each entry clever and fun raise the effective reading level high above the target audience. Clever puns and delightfully descriptive diatribes do not go over so well with young children just beginning to read. My six year old is completely ready for the subject matter, but struggles to the point of giving up (!!) trying to manage the prose.2) IMHO, the attempts at fun language and clever characterizations often work to obscure the simplicity of the subject matter at hand. As a scientist who understands many of the concepts under discussion, I often find myself marveling at how these descriptions express an opaque and incomprehensible version of what are fundamentally simple ideas.*sigh*Basher Guys... I LOVE what you are trying to do. IMHO, if you can find a way to simplify the prose, and not let "characterizations" get in the way of "simple explanations", then you will be changing the WORLD!!So despite my reservations... BUY THESE BOOKS!... I think that as long as they use it to try to do better, these guys have TOTALLY earned our income!!

My son is a voracious reader. We got him 7 of the Basher Science books for his 8th birthday in late March. He had finished them all by the end of April and has picked them back up again to reread. (2nd grade, reading at a U-level) He won't touch a fiction book unless forced, but if it is about science or technology he can't put it down. Just enough pictures to keep him from feeling intimidated by the text, perfect silliness level to keep him engaged, and more real science facts than he could absorb the first time through.

We bought this for my son - he is a HUGE fan of this series. Each element or topic gets its own page and the grouping is both intuitive and intelligent. My six year old wants us to read from this (and other Basher Science Books) most nights at bedtime. Of course, he thinks he wants to be a chemist when he grows up so this is definitely in his interest zone, but its a fun, educational read with cute illustrations and written (with a few puns for the parents) from the viewpoint of each idea, item or element. We are working on collecting the series.