The Amazing Chemistry in Your Home

Gr 3-7–In an easy, cartoon-style format, this slim book packs a lot of information into each page as it guides the reader through a home and explains how people interact with chemistry in each room. The tone of the book is set from the start with a double-page spread of the periodic table in which the elements describe their individual identities and chemical properties in comic speech bubbles. Each room, from garage to kitchen, bedroom, living room, garden, and more, is explored on two-page spreads, following an ethnically diverse group of children (and a gecko) through everyday activities, light-heartedly pointing out the essential chemical elements and reactions they encounter. In brightly-colored text boxes, which are tab-labeled as materials, reactions, temperature, gases, food and more, we learn what chemicals make up toothpaste, what plants can be poisonous, and why LED lights are efficient. Simple experiments are sprinkled throughout; however, they do not warn readers to use safety goggles and only casually mention that “it is probably best to ask a grown-up” when handling hot water and open flames. Some recommendations, such as using warm water in the laundry, may be misleading. Since the information is random and not organized by topic, it probably works best to spark a reader’s interest in chemistry, and not as a research source. There is a glossary and suggestions for further reading appended, but no index.