Did a Dinosaur Drink this Water?

By Robert E. Wells
Hardcover : 32 Pages
January 1, 2006

Did a Dinosaur Drink this Water? is a children's book that deals with how water is used and reused over and over within the water cycle. Concepts are explained with help from dozens of illustrations.

Wells discusses processes like evaporation, precipitation, and how it is that we are drinking the same water molecules that the Dinosaurs did millions and millions of years ago. The book also talks about the importance of water to not only ourselves, but to all living things, and suggests steps that you can take to conserve water.

Recommended for ages 4-8. Includes an epilogue.

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What’s Faster Than a Speeding Cheetah?

By Robert E. Wells
Hardcover : 32 Pages
January 1, 1997

In this installment of Wells’ science book series for kids we take a look at the concept of speed. What’s Faster Than a Speeding Cheetah? starts out with the titular feline and compares it to other animals, before moving on to planes, rockets, and to concepts like the speeds of sound and light.

Wells combines his child-friendly text with whimsical illustrations and diagrams to create a cohesive, informative work. One of my favorite parts is the fact that the Cheetah, Falcon, and other animals from the beginning move through the rest of book, first as passengers on the aircraft, and then in space suits.

Recommended for ages 4-8, or anyone who just wants to look at a fun book about science.

Contains some additional information in back, along with a chart of how long it would take various animals/machines to travel from the Earth to the moon.

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Last Chance to See

By Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine
Paperback : 256 Pages
October 13, 1992

In 1988, writer Douglas Adams teamed up with zoologist Mark Carwardine to travel the word and see some of its rarest and most spectacular animals. Their journey was made into BBC radio series, as well as a book that Adams penned.

In Last Chance to See, we follow these two as they search for the Aye-aye, the Kakapo, the Northern White Rhino, the Baiji, the Komodo Dragon, Mountain Gorilla, and the Rodrigues Fruit Bat. These are all species that were down to scarily low numbers.

Fact : The Kakapo is the cutest bird.

While the material is now dated*,  the book was a delight to read. I'm a big fan of Adams and his Hitchhiker's Guide series, and the book reads with his same voice and sense of humor. It's amazingly entertaining, on top of being an informative work on some of the most critically endangered species of the time.

Not too long ago, Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine went back and revisited some of the animals from the original 1988 trip (Adams died in 2001), this time making a video documentary series. I'm seriously considering buying the DVD off Amazon. Stupid Netflix.

*The Baiji is now extinct, the Northern White Rhino is most likely extinct in the wild, and other species have been rebounding well due to conservation efforts.

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The Greatest Show on Earth

By Richard Dawkins
Hardcover : 480 Pages
September 22, 2009

Written by the famed (and perhaps infamous) evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution explains the Theory of Evolution in wonderful detail, providing information from expeditions, experiments, and from the observation of nature itself. Like the man or not, he really knows and loves this material, and that devotion to the science shines through.

Though there are copies in audiobook form read by the author, as well as black and white eBook editions, I would recommend the print version which is chock full of color diagrams, illustrations and plates that back up and enhance the arguments, and help to bring better understanding to the examples.

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What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?

By Robert E. Wells
Paperback : 32 Pages
January 1, 1995

A companion book of sorts to Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?, What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew? looks at the very very small. Starting with the minutly sized, 3inch long Pygmy Shrew, it works its way down to tiny bugs, single celled organisms, and even the cells and their individual components.

Once again intended for children around age 4-8, the book attempts to explain difficult terms and concepts in a cutely illustrated format, with examples and comparisons. I never before would have thought to teach five-year-olds about quarks, but this book certainly tries hard to make these microscopic particles and parts understandable and accessible to those of a young age.

Overall it is a fun and informative book that I would recommend to anyone with a child interested in science, or just to anyone in general. It's been a few years since I've taken a microbiology class, and this actually worked pretty well for a very basic refresher! A glossary in the back provides child-friendly definitions for all of the terms covered.

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Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?

By Robert E. Wells
Paperback : 32 Pages
January 1, 1993

Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is is an adorable book written with 4-8 year olds in mind. While it doesn’t exclusively cover animals, I enjoyed it so much that I’m going to add it in my bibliography anyway. Hey, it’s science!

Anyway, this book asks the titular question, and then, with use of charming illustrations and examples, explains how there are things much larger than the Blue Whale, and even much larger than our own planet and sun.

Wells tackles the concept of size by using ingenious comparisons between objects. For example, if you pretended our sun was an orange, and put it in a crate with 99 other “oranges,” you could neatly place that crate on the Supergiant Star Antares.. multiple times! Wells uses similar examples to move between increasingly larger and larger things.

I really enjoyed this book, and I feel it handled its topic very well. I’d image explaining the vast, expansive size of the universe to a 3rd grader might be difficult, but this book certainly makes it easier. And the lion drawing at the very beginning is exceptionally cute.

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