The Sassafras Science Adventures: Volume One: Zoology

by Johnny Congo, Paige Hudson

The Sassafras Science Adventures series chronicles the adventures of Blaine & Tracey Sassafras as they spend the summer learning all about science. The twins were supposed to spend the summer at Camp Zip-fire, but when they failed to pass their science class, their father made them go spend their vacation with their crazy Uncle Cecil instead. Uncle Cecil was a well-known research scientist, but the Sassafras twins only knew him as the eccentric uncle who could never keep their names straight. Blaine and Tracey thought they were in for the worst summer of their lives, but President Lincoln and Uncle Cecil had other plans in store...In this volume the twins (and you) will learn all about the amazing animals that can be found around the globe. Don’t miss a minute of their summer-long zip line journey with crazy Uncle Cecil!

Genres: Science, Animals, School, Education, Childrens

314 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 2012

Reviews

[Crabby · Rating 1 out of 5]

We are on chapter 3 and there have already been a ridiculous amount of spelling, punctuation and various errors. I expect more, much more, when this is supposed to be curriculum material.

[Nicki Auten · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars but I have a policy of rounding up. The phrasing is awkward at times and can be challenging to read aloud but I wasn't the target audience. My 8 year old loved hearing this book read aloud. He was interested all the time. He followed the story and was always excited to find out what was coming next. He loved interjecting the facts that he read about on his own based on recommendations in the teaching guide. While it wasn't the best writing, it did what I hoped it would do and was a great experience for our son and I. We will be reading the next book together too.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining book but needed better editing. If I notice mistakes that’s bad. I’m not a writer. Definitely cannot be used as science curriculum as advertised. Again, entertaining story, but 300 pages to learn maybe 12 animals feeding habits doesn’t cut it for a zoology course. Despite giving it two stars, we will get the next in the series because the kids are excited to find out what happens.

[Elisabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Minimally educational, excruciating to get through, poorly written. However, even though my oldest often complained about the writing, both my kids enjoyed it and it looks like we are going on to the next book. It’s too late for me. Save yourself! Don’t start the series with your kids.

[Candace Fortino · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids LOVED this book and I would have rated it higher; however, it certainly needs to be heavily edited for typos, grammar, and frequent duplication of words.

[Merenwen Inglorion]

It was cringe-worthy at times, due to the info dumps and mostly contrived characters, but it seems like a good read for young kids. They wouldn’t be likely to notice the cookie-cutter characteristics of some of the side-characters, given that the main focus is animal facts and Saturday-morning-cartoon type of adventure.
The main characters travel around the world and collect animal facts. They alternately help and are helped by the locals who give them the facts, and are tailed by a mysterious man with no eyebrows who seems intent on preventing them from learning things about animals. The siblings have a nice bond with each other.

Went through this to see if it was something my little sister would enjoy.
It seems like it—adventure with a bit of mystery in it—so we’ll likely start reading it aloud soon and see if this holds her interest.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up to 4 stars, just because the kids loved it so much. The story does overshadow the educational info some but if you're using it and the researching each animal (making a notebook of things) then it works perfect. Kids were gripped into the story and can't wait to start the next book. Yes I've heard of all the grammatical errors but reading it out loud I would just word it different. 👍

[Samantha Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute storyline that kept my kids engaged, though there were some punctuation errors. At times the book gave too little information, and other times way more detail than we needed, so it felt uneven. Still, my kids loved it and learned a lot, and in the end, that’s what really matters. We’ll be moving on to Anatomy in January!

[Cami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was super fun to read aloud for our homeschool science this semester! The book was adventurous, and my kids colored in their logbooks while I read, stopping to fill out the scientific data as we went. We look forward to reading more in the series for sure.

[Kelly Culver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series!

I've used this book for 4 homeschooled kids. We add in videos and some extra reading but this story really helps the kids to retain information. It moves from short term memory to long term. love the series!

[Stephanie]

What a great book! We have thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of the Sassafras twins as they learned all about the animal kingdom. Our favorite "local expert" was Captain McScruffy and his search for the giant squid. My kids loved this read-aloud!!! Book two, here we come.

[Becky Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story, not much information for science. Possible that it's for kids younger than my 7 and 10 yo.

[Kristie Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We used this book as a science read aloud. Entertaining

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars because my daughter enjoyed it. I thought it was light on actual facts. Definitely not a curriculum. Just a story with some science facts.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read-aloud science curriculum, Fall Semester '25

we enjoyed and will continue on with the series

[Tamara York · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science curriculum for our homeschool. An interesting method of tackling science. My kids loved the story. It started out strong, but the constant peril got a bit old for me. We will probably do another Sassafras book sometime though.

[Heaterwendrial · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading with kids for zoology. The kids were entertained and did presentations on an animal of their choice from the book.

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good idea, executed terribly. So many grammatical errors it was difficult to read aloud. The plot was downright odd and you had to suspend disbelief way too far for a science book. The plot had several creepy, disturbing characters and twists and those things were left hanging, not ever resolved in an appropriate and satisfying way. Really disappointing.

[Lekeshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an adventure and a fun way to learn about animals and their habitats. My kids love the Wild Kratz on PBS and thought they would love this as well. I was correct. Next up is anatomy for the next school year. we can't wait.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love this science!!!

My boys beg to read this book. They sit and eat up every but of info and then always beg for more. They are a bit older (9+11) so we do a little additional research but this book and the others are so fun!!

[Zaira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a blast! I really enjoyed this book and my daughters loved it too.