Peppers, Popcorn, and Pizza (Science at Work)

Gr 3-5-These titles illustrate how insects and food relate to everyday lives. In Cockroaches, amazing facts about arthropods are presented in a direct manner, with vocabulary well defined within the text. Links to technology, careers, society, and the environment are explained with interesting facts about medicines and treatments that have been developed because of insects and descriptions of careers related to their study. Similar sections in Peppers link food to these areas. Both books have an appended "Science Survey" set of questions for readers to answer or investigate, "Fast Facts" consisting of 20 interesting tidbits, and a "Young Scientists@Work" section with a quiz and an experiment. Interspersed within the texts are "Challenges" that promote critical thinking. Charts and illustrations are clear and photos are colorful close-ups. The layout is similar to a Web site with numerous links and buttons and "Byte-sized" trivia on almost every page. These slim volumes contain a lot of useful information.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.