Recommended Reads from the Children's Collection @ the Education Library

Richard Feynman: physicist... Nobel winner... bestselling author... safe-cracker. This graphic novel biography presents the exploits of Nobel-winning quantum physicist, adventurer, musician, world-class raconteur, and one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century: Richard Feynman.

From his early days at Oxford, Stephen Hawking's brilliance and good humor were obvious to everyone he met. At twenty-one he was diagnosed with ALS, a disease that limited his ability to move and speak, though it did nothing to limit his mind. He went on to do groundbreaking work in cosmology and theoretical physics for decades after being told he had only a few years to live. Through his bestseller, A Brief History of Time, and his appearances on television, Hawking became a household name and a pop-culture icon.

This book tells the story of young Isaac Newton and how he eventually made his way to Cambridge University, where he studied the work of earlier scientists and began building on their accomplishments. This picture book biography celebrates Newton's discoveries that illuminated the mysteries of gravity, motion, and even rainbows, discoveries that gave mankind a new understanding of the natural world.

What if your science experiments were so interesting that even an Emperor wanted to know more? In 1806, scientist Ernst Chladni left Germany for a three-year road trip, entertaining Europeans with his science. He made wires, columns of air, and solids vibrate. He wrote about this in his native German language, but his French scientist friends wanted to read about it in French. In February, 1809, Chladni's friends took him to the Tuileries Palace.

When he was born in 1879, Albert was a fat baby with an unusually big and misshaped head. When he was older, he hit his sister, frustrated his teachers, and had few friends. But Albert's childhood also included his brilliant capacity for puzzles and problem solving: the mystery of a compass's swirling needle, the intricacies of Mozart's music, the secrets of geometry--set his mind spinning with ideas.

This book explains atoms, the elements, and other essential science concepts and reveal how very (very) small materials are manipulated to create self-washing windows; stronger, lighter airplanes; and other wonders of nanotechnology.

What keeps objects from floating out of your hand? What if your feet drifted away from the ground? What stops everything from floating into space? Gravity.

The wonder of light has fascinated readers for ages. This book helps readers understand the secrets and complexity of light. You will learn what light is made of and how it fits alongside everything else in the world.

Everything around us is composed of minute particles, smaller than a nanometer (a billionth of a meter). Quantum physics is the science of these particles and without it none of our electronic devices, from smartphones to computers and microwave ovens, would exist. The world of quantum physics is an amazing place, where quantum particles can do weird and wonderful things, acting totally unlike the objects we experience in day-to-day life. How can atoms exist in two places at once? And just how can a cat be dead and alive at the same time?

Albert Einstein. His name has become a synonym for genius. His wild case of bedhead and playful sense of humor made him a media superstar. He wasn't much for lab work; in fact he had a tendency to blow up experiments. What he liked to do was think, not in words but in "thought pictures." What was the result of all his thinking? Nothing less than the overturning of Newtonian physics.

Chemistry for Kids (Kitchen Pantry Scientist) features biographies of 25 leading chemists, past and present, accompanied by accessible, hands-on experiments and activities to bring the history and principles of chemistry alive.

Albert Einstein expanded the way we understand our universe and helped create a framework for modern physics with his groundbreaking theory of relativity. This biography recounts Einstein's life from his privileged childhood and disappointing early career to his later recognition as one of the most respected and beloved scientists of this century. The author identifies Einstein's complex theories and makes clear why his ideas are still the basis of work by today's top physicists.

Energy Lab for Kids offers challenging experiments and guided discussions along with how-tos, discoveries, and pointers from prize-winning kids.

This guide to the periodic table -- the ultimate reference tool for scientists worldwide -- names all 118 chemical elements and helps young readers understand the remarkable ways we have learned to use them. Layouts feature each element's letter symbol and atomic number, exploring its attributes, characteristics, uses, and stories behind its discovery.

Isaac Newton's discovery and descriptions of the laws of gravity in the 1600s revolutionized the world of science instantly. But this was not Newton's only achievement. He also made groundbreaking advances with theories on light, motion, and astronomy. Knighted and hailed as the greatest scientist of all time, Newton's work remains vital and profound even today.

Before Isaac Newton became the father of physics, an accomplished mathematician, or a leader of the scientific revolution, he was a boy living in an apothecary's house, observing and experimenting, recording his observations of the world in a tiny notebook. As a young genius living in a time before science as we know it existed, Isaac studied the few books he could get his hands on, built handmade machines, and experimented with alchemy--a process of chemical reactions that seemed, at the time, to be magical.

Formaldehyde, borax, salicylic acid. Today, these chemicals are used in embalming fluids, cleaning supplies, and acne medications. But in 1900, they were routinely added to food that Americans ate from cans and jars. In 1900, products often weren't safe because unethical companies added these and other chemicals to trick consumers into buying spoiled food or harmful medicines. Chemist Harvey Washington Wiley recognized these dangers and began a 30-year campaign to ensure that consumers could purchase safe food and drugs, eventually leading to the creation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At a former boy's school in the remote desert of New Mexico, the world's greatest scientists have gathered to work on the "Gadget," an invention so dangerous and classified they cannot even call it by its real name. They work hard, surrounded by top security and sworn to secrecy, until finally they take their creation far out into the desert to test it, and afterward the world will never be the same.

Ever wondered what makes rubber bounce? Or why it's stretchy? And WHY is rubber so . . . rubbery?! Learn the fascinating science and history behind this ubiquitous material! With sidebars, graphics, fun facts, and more, the history of rubber reveals plenty of fascinating secrets and surprises. Readers will discover that early balls didn't bounce; that people in the rainforest made waterproof gear from rubber thousands of years before Europeans got into the act; and that sneakers, bicycles, and cars created demand for more and more rubber!