Reviews
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, 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/, Max Axiom is a super teacher in the tradition of Miss Frizzle and the Magic Schoolbus. To teach students about magnets, Max travels back in time to the 900 B.C. Greek region of Magnesia where the discovery of magnetism was first documented. He shrinks into an atom to demonstrate the spinning force of electrons and blasts deep into space to illustrate the Earth's magnetic poles and the forces that cause the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) and the Aurora Australis (southern lights). He then returns safely back to his present-day lab for some fun science experiments that can be replicated at home or in the classroom. Written in an accurate and engaging graphic novel format with inserted panels defining key terms, this book would be an exciting asset to any home or classroom library. This book is complete with additional facts about magnetism, a glossary and index, and a fact-file of Max Axiom's super capabilities and basic statistics. Suggested safe internet sites accompany the text., Max Axiom(tm): Super Scientist Maxwell J. Axiom is no ordinary superhero. He is no other than the super scientist! If you had any doubt about science being super, he's here to quench that doubt. Born to a marine biologist mother and nuclear physicist/park ranger father in Seattle, USA, he's got black skin, brown eyes and no hair. He is the scientific version of Shaft, swift, dynamic, cool. His super-powers come from a lightning that struck him one day on a wilderness hike: it gave him a newfound energy and motivated him to travel the globe and earn degrees in every aspect of science. Equipped with this enormous knowledge that he was ready to share, he assumed a new identity: Max Axiom, Super Scientist. His superpowers include super-intelligence, ability to shrink to a size of an atom, time travel and X-ray vision. So apart from breaking a few laws of physics in the start there, he does make up for it by using all of his powers to explain the science to the readers. Magnetism This is the famous episode where Max "shrinks to the size of an atom" in order to explain just how magnetism works at an atomic level. He also visits ancient Greece where the word magnet was first coined, it was named after a region called Magnesia which was littered with a naturally magnetic rock "magnesian stone". Another story says magnets were first discovered by a Greek shepherd Magnes whose sandals (built with iron nails) were attracted to magnesian stones. Not even Max can tell us if this story is true, but he sure makes sure we understand how and why magnets work in this fascinating comic.
