Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Math and Science

  • PEBBLES And The BIGGEST NUMBER by Joey Benun, illustrated by Laura Watson – Picture Books, Children’s Science Books, Science & Nature

    Pebbles the butterfly loves to count as much as he can in his garden. But soon enough he gets curious, and in Pebbles and the Biggest Number by Joey Benun, he embarks on a science-filled quest to find the world’s truly gigantic numbers.

    While the numbers start small, they quickly grow bigger and bigger, as do the wild events that Pebbles must face. Our butterfly guide wanders from forests to deserts, and encounters earthquakes, tsunamis, and even an avalanche. Each landscape and natural disaster pushes Pebbles onward to meet new friends and find even bigger numbers.

    How big can the numbers get?

    You’ll find no made-up numbers in Pebbles and the Biggest Number. Everything from a quintillion to a googolplex actually exists, though it isn’t long before the numbers become nearly impossible to imagine. However, there is a handy sand chart in the back to put some numbers into immense perspective. This is the kind of book that kids will sit with for long hours and astound you with the facts they’ve learned.

    The friendly creatures and beautifully rendered landscapes of Pebbles’s journey will engage young and curious minds. Complete with extra notes and definitions in the back, this book will continue to teach even after the story ends.

    Pebbles and the Biggest Number is hopefully the start of a great new series explaining the world to young readers. With its wonderful descriptions and knowledge, this book comes highly recommended!

     

    5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

  • EUDORA SPACE KID: The Great Engine Room Takeover – Book 1 by David Horn – Science & Math Adventure Children’s Books, Action/Adventure Books, Sci-fi Series Children’s Books

    EUDORA SPACE KID: The Great Engine Room Takeover – Book 1 by David Horn – Science & Math Adventure Children’s Books, Action/Adventure Books, Sci-fi Series Children’s Books

     

    Young readers with a penchant for math, science, and engineering are sure to fall in love with David Horn’s new Eudora Space Kid series. With the premiere story of The Great Engine Room Takeover, readers meet a precocious third-grader and her mad-cap adventures in outer space.

    Eudora Jenkins lives aboard a multi-level Astroliner called the Athena and hopes to be its chief engineer someday. The Athena is the flagship of the Astrofleet, a science and defense force for the Planetary Republic, which comprises twenty planets working together to make the galaxy a better place for all living things. Early on, we learn that aliens adopted both Eudora and her older sister Molly. Their new Mom resembles a beautiful gray wolf from the dog-like species of the planet Pox, and their father, Max, looks like an octopus and hails from planet Pow.

    Through an imaginative first-person narrative, this “most awesome girl” draws us into her space domain.

    Looking for more than a typical childhood existence aboard this flying craft, Eudora’s latest desire is to figure out how to increase the speed of the Athena. After hacking into the spaceship’s PA system, Eudora’s enticing birthday party announcement works as a ploy to empty the engine room. Here she applies her formulas and makes adjustments at the computer terminal in an attempt to break the Astroliner’s speed record.

    In Eudora’s funtastic, futuristic world, we meet all types of innovative technology and fabulous new friends.

    For example, her pet drago named Bologna appears as a cross between a bunny and a dragon.  Young readers will discover electropad devices that hold all the students’ books, notes, and work – and hear tales of exploding pumpkins that wreak havoc on a fuel storage chamber. Not only is this a book that fits in well with the STEM programs now in many educational curriculums, but the story quickly touches on an array of themes, from sibling rivalry and family variations to lessons about learning from our mistakes.

    Laced with humor, Eudora comments to her audience, “And you thought your parents were weird!”

    An opening illustration by Talitha Shipman sets the stage with a spaceship flying amidst a star-studded galaxy.

    Readers will see lion and octopus-headed creatures and a being with Spock-like pointed ears. Details in the artwork throughout the book capture the extreme facial expressions of these spacecraft residents. Eudora’s gleeful look while destroying an asteroid at the push of a button changes to a disgruntled frown when the captain reprimands her. The final pages offer a creative word search puzzle, and the audience also learns that more cosmic adventures with Eudora are on the way.

    Eudora Space Kid: The Great Engine Room Takeover will indeed win an audience among inquisitive, inventive-minded youngsters who like to push boundaries and reach for the stars.

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker