FAIRY TALE SCIENCE

Readers are invited to approach fairy tales with scientific curiosity.

This collection includes summaries of 25 fairy tales, 22 of which are European, although the full-color, cartoon-style illustrations feature ethnically diverse children. For each, information regarding the story’s origin and variations is provided. Following each summary, the author discusses related scientific concepts and provides detailed steps for performing one or more experiments or activities, complete with scientific terms, definitions, diagrams, and reflective questions. Following “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the author includes a discussion of vital signs. Also included are steps for readers to determine their heart rates. Following “The Three Little Pigs,” the author provides a discussion of forces, including how the wind can cause structural failure. Readers are encouraged to test this using a ping-pong ball and blow-dryer. The author’s humorous and satirical retelling of each tale is key, offering a fresh perspective on these classics and encouraging readers to begin thinking like scientists. The rich heritages of Africa, Indigenous North America, Oceania, and Latin America are entirely absent, while a story set in China by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen is included; alongside the story of Ali Baba, the two other non-Western tales are about possibly real Asian historical figures—Mulan and Vikramaditya—choices out of keeping with the European stories. The cursory explanations of past societies’ timekeeping abilities and fear of witches feel ahistorical.

A lively and captivating book weakened by its narrow cultural focus.