Books for Kids

An irregularly updated review of current and classic children's literature.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Science Verse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

I loved the previous book, Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. I've used it frequently as a teacher to introduce math lessons. I smiled when I first saw Science Verse on the shelf and was expecting another fantastic book.

Sorry to say, but the book disappointed me. The authors couldn't decide whether they wanted Science Verse to be about poetry or about science. Often times I felt as if the science explanations were sacrificed to meet the constraints of using familiar poems.

Whereas Math Curse had a story that moved the discussion of math problems along, there was no story that moved one poem to the next. Were there some funny and educational poems in the book? Yes, and I'm sure I will use a few of the poems at one point or another while teaching, but I don't think Science Curse is a strong book when looked at as a whole.

A cd is included of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith reading the poems and adding some silliness to the reading also.

Age range: 8-14
Keywords: Science, Poetry, Evolution, Matter, Biology, Chemistry, Physics

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