Popular Science Children's Review - The Adventures of Adam the Atom

Home Authors Books Subjects Events Software Features Links Newsletter Gifts Blog Write Review What's New

Review - The Adventures of Adam the Atom - Casey Waid

A frequent disappointment in science books for younger children is the way that they tend to cover boring Victorian science. In fact, done right, everything from quantum physics to relativity can be presented to the younger audience and made approachable. In this slim, well illustrated picture book, Casey Waid takes on the basics of atomic structure and bonding.

Our hero, Adam, is a hydrogen atom. A big bully of a nitrogen atom wants to take his electron, so he can become noble - but on the advice of the wise Ben Zine, Adam teams up with another hydrogen atom and an oxygen to go for something much more impressive.

The pictures are good, and the concept is excellent. My one worry about this book is that it falls a little bit between two stools. As a children's story it's a bit short of excitement, while as an explanation of atomic bonding, the personalization of the atoms gets a little bit in the way of an understanding of what's going on.

Nevertheless, it's a charming little book and makes a good stab at what it's trying to do. A pleasant bonus is that the book comes with a free downloadable audio book version.

Only in paperback

Reviewed by Brian Clegg

* Our age range recommendation is an estimated guide, but individual readers outside the range could still enjoy the book!

DISCLAIMERS

This site has no connection with Popular Science magazine or other sites and publications with a similar name.

Much of the content of this site is written by popular science writers or friends of popular science writers. Inevitably many of the reviews in such a small community are written by or about someone we know. We always aim to be impartial in our reviews, but there is a connection which we need make clear, as there is no intention to deceive. The content of any review or article is solely the opinion of the author and should not be read or understood on any other basis. The site exists to promote popular science writing and popular science authors and for this reason should be considered promotional material, just as the editorial reviews in an online bookshop or the blurb on the back of a book should be considered promotional.

The website should not be eaten or used where it can come into contact with water.

Disagree with our review? Want to comment on a feature? Contact us at info@ popularscience.co.uk - have your say!

Part of the site