• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 May #2
  The book's subtitle covers its content, and with 160 pages, that's a lot. The book is divided into chapters covering simple machines, acoustics, optics, energy, systems, and forces, and it features projects such as a rolling-pin pulley, string phone, color kaleidoscope, and balloon car. Some of the projects are common enough in similar books that readers will already be familiar with them, but this casts a wider net, though some of the projects seem oddly simplistic. For instance, rescuing a dinosaur involves putting a plastic dino in water, freezing it, and after removing it from the cup, deciding "how you will rescue the dinosaur." Executing the projects is explained clearly, step-by-step, and the informational color insets make absorbing extra information easy. There are also final spreads that ask kids to put on their thinking (and imagination) caps, asking, for instance, how to solve the mosquito problem as you try to observe gorillas in the wild. Big and bright, interspersed with "Quick Facts" pages, this will give ideas to parents, teachers, and librarians as well as kids. Grades 5-8. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

ELLA SCHWARTZ received two degrees in engineering from Columbia University. She works as a cybersecurity warrior, helping to keep the Internet safe. Schwartz writes fiction and nonfiction books for young readers with a focus on STEM. When she's not working, writing, or training to run a marathon, she volunteers on outreach initiatives to promote women in science and improve science literacy.