Science of Color: Investigating Light: Investigating Light

In this engaging title, young readers learn how visible light is the key to color! Discover how light begins with the sun and travels to Earth on electromagnetic waves, how white light actually holds the whole color spectrum, and how the eye perceives color. These properties are illustrated by the mixing of paints and pixels. Colorful infographics make the electromagnetic spectrum, wavelength, and eye anatomy easily accessible, and prominent contributors such as Sir Isaac Newton and Russell Kirsch are featured. A fun experiment with light and water brings the science of color to life! Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Gr 3–5—Exploring the physics behind things and phenomena that will be familiar to younger students, Kenney ratchets up the level of specific detail. In Color the text doesn't just explain exactly why the sky is blue but discusses the electromagnetic spectrum, photons, how the eye works, and even why mixed paints darken rather than lighten. The photos in each volume are interspersed with clear, easy-to-understand charts and diagrams. Each also features at least one profile of a prominent scientist of the past and instructions for an elementary hands-on demonstration. The author does skip over some thornier topics, such as dark matter, and mentions that glaciers are melting faster without reference either to global warming or even the politically safer term climate change. Still, these are solid informative studies of select but important basic principles. VERDICT Excellent discussions of some of physics' underlying principles, for serious younger students.