It's amazing how many major, and not-so-major, scientific discoveries were made by accident: penicillin, silly putty, photography, gravity, and many more. Royston Roberts (Serendipity, not reviewed) and daughter Jeanie describe a number of these accidents and provide many simple but enlightening experiments to demonstrate the various principles that arise. Kids in the recommended 10-15 age group, however, might resent instructions that seem to baby them, as when they're told to have an adult fry eggs for them to demonstrate the properties of Teflon. Still, the wealth of interesting and clearly explained information more than compensates for slights the young scientist might feel in the experiment sections. Aside from a fun and informative read, the Robertses stress that accidents like these only lead to scientific breakthroughs if one knows how to interpret them; or, as Louis Pasteur put it, ``chance favors the prepared mind.'' Young scientists are encouraged to think for themselves, to analyze and interpret, so that when serendipitous events occur they know how to make the most of them. (Glossary) (Nonfiction. 10-15)
Pub Date: Nov. 4, 1994
ISBN: 0-471-00954-7
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
A rollicking, ripping tall tale with ecological subtext.
When rogue feral hogs and a greedy developer threaten to wipe out Sugar Man Swamp, two raccoons know it’s time to rouse the legendary Sugar Man.
Mythic Sugar Man has reigned over Sugar Man Swamp for a “gazillion yesterdays.” Raccoons Bingo and J’miah descend from a line of Official Scouts Sugar Man designated to watch over the swamp and alert him in an emergency. Twelve-year-old Chap has also grown up along the swamp, where his mother operates Paradise Pies Café. Like his recently deceased grandfather, Chap cherishes the swamp. When the swamp’s sleazy owner, Sunny Boy Beaucoup, threatens to evict them to convert the swamp into Gator World Wrestling Arena and Theme Park, Chap takes his grandfather’s place to preserve what he loves. When Bingo and J’miah discover feral hogs descending on the swamp to pulverize the native sugarcane, they risk Sugar Man’s wrath and wake him. Set in the east Texas bayou, like The Underneath (2008) and Keeper (2010), this playful tale teems with bayou flora, fauna and folklore. In a honeyed dialect, the omnipresent narrator directly engages readers, ricocheting between the hilarious human and critter dramas to a riotous finale.
A rollicking, ripping tall tale with ecological subtext. (art not seen) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: July 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2105-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
