Nick Derington is an artist currently living and working in Austin TX. Agnieszka Biskup is a writer and editor based in Chicago. She is a former science editor at the Boston Globe as well as a Knight Fellow at MIT, where she studied science journalism. She served as managing editor of the children's magazine Muse and has written numerous children's books in addition to many articles for newspapers, magazines, and websites. Her books have received awards from Learning magazine, the Association of Educational Publishers, the Society of School Librarians International, and have been chosen as Junior Library Guild selections. She is also a winner of the 2015 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award in the Writing for Children category.
I'm in love - or, better yet, my son is in love! We've had the
opportunity to review graphic science books on all sorts of topics
that are fun and easy to read. Comic book style science sounds
really fluffy doesn't it? Believe it or not, the Max Axiom series
is full of "real" science that goes deep enough to be appropriate
for any upper elementary/early middle school child. My son is a
less-than-zealous textbook reader. (Picture eyes glazing over and
giant yawns.) After reading - or being read to - from a textbook,
he recalls very little of the information. Over the years, I've
turned science into hands-on unit studies and supplemented with
lots of library books, which has worked quite well. During one of
these unit study times, I came across Max Axiom and wanted to know
more. I found that Capstone Press offers many, many Max Axiom
books, and boy were my son and I excited! Twenty-four books total
cover the areas of biology/botany, chemistry, physical and earth
science. In each book, Max Axiom (a scientist with super powers),
goes on an adventure to learn all about the topic at hand. He can
shrink to the size of bacteria and whiz through the human body, or
go back in time to learn more about a famous scientist of the past.
All of this in a 32 page comic book! (When I say comic book, don't
think of flimsy pages, these are "real" books.) http:
//thecurriculumchoice.com/2011/07/max-axiom-graphic-science-books/--
"Curriculum Choice blog"
There are lots of engaging resources available for teaching science
to young kids, but one of the best is strangely little known: a
terrific and highly entertaining series of science-themed graphic
novels from Capstone Press, featuring a super scientist by the name
of Max Axiom. Max Axiom, the story goes, was hiking one day when he
was struck by megacharged lightning. The accident gave him the
ability to shrink to the size of the atom, while his magic lab coat
enables him to travel through space and time. These super powers
mean that when he is, for instance, investigating viruses, he can
stand on a human knee and watch as a scrape becomes infected. He
can travel down inside a plant to show the role of chloroplasts in
photosynthesis. Each book in the series features an adventure
focused on one science theme, such as Cell Life, Chemical
Reactions, or Electricity. Information is presented clearly and
engagingly, and each book also features a glossary, suggestions for
further reading, and pre-screened internet links. There are more
than 15 books in the series altogether. Unfortunately, the Brooklyn
Public Library and New York Public Library each only carry one of
these well-designed books, but you can purchase four for the price
of three on Amazon. http:
//www.examiner.com/homeschooling-in-new-york/max-axiom-graphic-novels-make-learning-science-fun--
"Examiner.com"
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