Big Picture Press (an imprint of Bonnier Books UK) ISBN 9781787417342 £12.99
This book, written for children with a reading age of 9+, is a useful addition to any science department in schools and in the science section of libraries. It presents the chemical periodic table as you have never seen it before. For those young scientists trying to learn chemistry basics, this book is a lively and memorable way of gripping this essential aspect of chemistry. With the help of a whole series of weird and wonderful characters, both real and imagined, children are provided with easy to access information, accompanied by excellent infographics which allow all ages to access information about the periodic table elements. A series of double page spreads on the ‘ Elements’ and the ‘Periodic Table’ is followed by a very good ‘Key and Guide to each Element’ in the book. A single page on ‘108 elements’ is then followed by one double page of elements discovered between 1982 and 2004, a page on ‘Element 119’ and ‘The Elements and You’. There is an excellent ‘Glossary’ and ‘Index’.
This book provides a different way for children to learn chemistry basics. The personified elements help children enjoy learning and I am sure some GCSE and A Level Chemistry students would find this as a basic reference source with a slightly fun aspect. It is both informative and entertaining.
Paul Baker