Your Guide to the Periodic Table

by Gill Arbuthnott, Marc Mones (Illustrator)

Your Guide to the Periodic Table is an easy-to-follow introduction to the elements that make up the periodic table of elements. Each element is linked to a science story or fascinating fact, from what makes sulfur smelly to what makes hydrogen explode, and everything in between. Packed with illustrations and explanatory diagrams, prepare to be amazed by the most wacky and informative look at the periodic table ever!

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

64 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2016

About the author

I was born and brought up in Edinburgh, where I went to James Gillespie’s High School, famous as the school where the author Muriel Spark was educated, and on which she based her most famous book The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Almost all the teachers when I was there seemed to be wildly eccentric spinsters. There was one maths teacher who would climb into a cupboard at one end of the room, and reappear out from a cupboard door at the other end! Then there was Miss Dalgliesh. She was my teacher in Primary 5. She always wore a black teaching gown, and used to swoop round the room like a large, friendly rook. She had a stuffed tawny owl in her room, and if you were particularly good, you might be allowed to take it home for the night! She used to invite some of us (we were all girls in Gillespie’s back then) to the flat she shared with her sister, to eat cream cakes and listen to her sister play the piano… I don’t think they don’t make teachers like that any more, sadly.

When I finished school I went off to St Andrew’s University to study Zoology, then did teacher training (just so I could have another year lolling around as a student really). At that point, I thought I wanted to be a proper Scientist, so I went off to Southampton University to start a PhD. Unfortunately, I was rubbish at research. I wasn’t nearly clever enough. So I became a Biology teacher instead!

All the time though, what I really wanted to do was write. I wrote in secret (I know, how sad is that?) so that not even my family knew my Dark Secret. I tried a couple of books for adults, but just amassed a splendid collection of rejection slips. Then I saw the Millennium Clock in the museum in Edinburgh, and suddenly I was writing the Chaos Clock, and suddenly it had turned into a childrens’ book. I still don’t quite know how that happened. It seemed to just decide it was a childrens’ book, and I didn’t feel I was in a position to argue with it.

Now, I can’t imagine why I ever wanted to write for adults. This has got to be the best job in the world…

Reviews

[Raina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It's easy to follow, yet middle grade readers will definitely learn a lot about the elements and the periodic table from it. It includes science experiences throughout, and references to the metal in objects that would be more familiar to this age range.

[Rachel Grover · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great addition for any library's science shelves! I love how friendly this book makes something as daunting as the periodic table. Full of color, illustrations, and easy to understand language, I will be purchasing this for my MS library in order to supplement the dryness that is our current selection on the periodic table. Initially intended (I assume) for upper elementary students interested (or not so interested) in science, I think a lot of my middle schoolers who struggle with science would find this title appealing. On order.

[Beth Kakuma-Depew · Rating 3 out of 5]

So in the book Thing Explainer they have a pull-out map of the Periodic Table of Elements, with none of the real names, of course. The short riddles they give instead are sometimes funny something thoughtful. But this book makes a great read along, with facts and of course the real names of elements!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason I cannot give this book five stars is because it presents the big bang theory as undisputed fact. Other than that, I and my 6 year old audience really enjoyed it. Really fascinating stories go along with each element that help make them memorable. For example, one element caused a well known disease in England called Mad Hatter Disease. Fun and informative.

[Arnav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book, with very interesting facts about the elements.

[Kiddo]

Cute, fun book but not the depth kiddo wanted after Disappearing Spoon. Of the fun little books kiddo preferred the Basher book The Periodic Table: elements with style.