Bangs and Twangs: Science Fun With Sound

Text and simple experiments introduce sound, how it is carried through the air and through objects, and how we hear it.

Grade 2-5-These series entries present science concepts through a series of experiments. The science is accurate, but the illustrations are distracting. In Bangs, unattractive cartoon-styled characters (a big-mouthed, skinny-legged woman and a wisecracking robot) introduce sound and how it works. In Squirts, the duo presents the physics behind water pressure. Home use rather than school is implied and some of the projects could create quite a mess-squirting water out of the mouth, making a squirt gun, a balloon water shooter-and would best be done in the backyard. Others could get very noisy. The materials needed for the experiments are readily available in the average home and the directions are clearly stated and illustrated. These titles lack the charm and effectiveness of Joanna Cole's "Magic School Bus" series (Scholastic). The Frizz still reigns!-Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reviewed with Vicki Cobb's Squirts and Spurts.

Gr. 3-6. In a lively cartoon format, these volumes introduce young readers to beginning physics through basic explanations and easy experiments. Both titles hook the reader from the start by engaging the body: Bangs invites kids to cluck, smack, kiss, and make other body sounds ("Remember, not all sounds are polite"); Squirts suggests kids explore the many ways to squirt water from the mouth. Brief chapters introducing concepts follows this rowdy fun, with plenty of practical, hands-on activities illustrating sound vibration and travel, pitch, and the physiology of hearing (in Bangs ) and the mechanics behind hydraulics, vacuum pressure, and other modes of moving water, including a make-your-own guide to the "aerosol bubbling foam bomb" (Squirts ). The text succeeds in conveying sophisticated concepts through accessible language, and Steve Haefele's drawings of an exuberant, grinning narrator and her robot sidekick clearly illustrate both the broad, abstract concepts and the concrete activity steps. Good books that will encourage enthusiastic learning. Gillian Engberg
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