Simple explanations of complex ideas for your future genius!
Written by an expert, The ABCs of Science is a colorfully simple introduction for babies (and grownups!) to a new science concept for every letter of the alphabet--from amoeba all the way to zygote. Each page in this science primer features multiple levels of text so the book grows along with your little scientist--read just one line of text per page to start or linger on the longer descriptions as baby's vocabulary expands. This alphabetical installment of the Baby University board book series is the perfect way to introduce basic concepts to even the youngest scientists.
Baby University: It only takes a small spark to ignite a child's mind!
I am Chris Ferrie, father of four and happy husband. My day job is academic research where I follow my curiosity through the word of quantum physics. My passion for communicating science has led from the most esoteric topics of mathematical physics to more recently writing children’s books.
Yotta is the largest prefix in the metric system and means one million million million million. For example, the earth weighs about 6 Yottagrams (6 Yg).
This book is brilliant! It's specifically made for 3 age groups. It's an alphabet book that has 3 sections on each page, each for the designated age group about the science word that goes with that letter. It's informative, colorful, and great to read and learn about science.
This review was originally written for The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!
Hello, friends! We have a special 3-for-1 review today, taking a look at three board books from the Baby University series by Chris Ferrie: ABCs of Science, ABCs of Physics, and ABCs of Mathematics.
On each page of this set of ABC STEM books for little ones, readers are introduced to a letter and a corresponding scientific concept, element, reaction, idea, particle, etc. Each page is then broken into three levels of information: for babies, the just the letter, concept and illustration; for toddlers, a short sentence describing the subject; for older children, a two- to three-sentence paragraph that describes the idea in more detail.
These were great! It’s a clever, highly-informative and very accessible way to teach scientific and mathematical principles and concepts to little bookworms AND their caregivers. I especially liked the idea of breaking each page into three levels of informational chunks – it gives the books a lot of mileage as children grow and can comprehend more advanced ideas, and works perfectly for this kind of complex subject matter. The illustrations are a little plain, and there’s a lot of white space for this kind of book – I might have liked to see more engaging and/or colorful illustrations that could grow with kids as well as the text did. For the most part, however, this is a wonderful way to encourage little scientists, mathematicians and engineers to learn about the building blocks of STEM. Baby Bookworm approved!
I feel the same way about this book as I do about The ABCs of Mathematics, another board book by the same author. In both cases, there are solid illustrations and information, but both are definitely books for OLDER readers, i.e., not baby/toddler audience, as one might likely presume from the ABCs theme and board book format. Indeed, board book may be the format, but that doesn't mean this is for babies--quite the contrary, in fact.
I wish this were in picture book format. If it were, I think the chances for it to be read by school-age kids, who will be able to understand and benefit from it, would be greatly increased. It would be a great text to use in a variety of ways in a curriculum and classroom. The good thing is that there are two levels of text offered in the book, the basic (in larger font above image) and extended (in smaller font below image) on each page. It could also be considered to have a third text level, which is the smallest font at the bottom of the page. But without context, the other two levels of text are not of much value outside of words to read and pronounce--learning new words and sentences without comprehension and context is not especially helpful if the point is to learn mathematical/STEM ideas.
In brief: recommended for those who already know their ABCs and have moved on to reading, with a solid familiarity of basic scientific concepts and a large vocabulary (words like immunities, obsidian, and electron are all used without explanation).
Good grief. I truly hope that Ferrie's children ("budding young scientists") really turn out to be just that. I know I never will. Concepts of science for a baby board book.
Was looking for a gift to get for a Friend's 1 year old. I really like books and I value education. As an adult I think these series of books by Chris Ferrie are a brilliant concept. As far as execution, I can't say if anyone could raise the next Einstein, Marie Curie, or Stephen Hawking off of this collection. I can't judge how well a child processes the information since I don't have kids of my own.
Reading this book makes me feel STUPID (in a good way.) I have a teenage sibling who read this with me and felt that these intro books break down the core concept successfully. "Would have been helpful for my AP exam last year." You learn so much on one page which is equivalent to learning the same concept in the span 20-50 pages in your high school/college textbooks.
I think these books are great for ALL AGES. Anyone interested in math and science should check these outs. Any teachers out there should check these out for their students, regardless of age group.
It's definitely "never too early to introduce small children to big ideas!"- Chris Ferrie.
I actually liked this one more than ABCs of Mathematics so I may go back and dock that one a star- this one's more approachable and has a good variety of biology, physics, and chemistry in addition to the scientific method (T for theory with a chart!)
Of course, as a genetics-background person I'm pleased to see gene, mitosis, and zygote be represented as well as vaccine because that's important for keeping bab safe!
I get that some reviewers think some of these concepts are too technical but c'mon. Gotta start them young while that neuroplasticity's still nice and stretchy!
This ABC book is a mix of scientific words and concepts, ranging from biology to physics, to chemistry. Studies show that reading to kids helps tremendously with their vocabulary, and each vocabulary word in this book comes with a definition.
I'm not sure that kids at this age will really understand all of these concepts, but this book might plant little grains of interest in science, and when they do encounter these topics much later in school, the words might feel somewhat familiar!
Love this book! An easy, colorful alphabet book with the benefit of more challenging science concepts! My son is 2 and already knows his alphabet from going through this cute, educational series. I'm a science nerd and hope he finds this information as fascinating and enjoyable as I do!
It's good (if you read this after reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan , because if you don't you (or just me) will be a little bit confuse about some of the definitions) , too much for baby (maybe this is more suitable for toddlers) but I (as a mommy) love it ! I know what Yg is yeayyyy!!!
Three levels of reading to engage everyone from babies to adults. Personally, I learned that there are six different kinds of quarks (! And now I need to know more!) as well as the term "Yotta," which is a form of measurement. Interesting.
I love that this book has varying levels of detail to read or skip - it will truly grow with baby as she matures! And when she encounters terms like the Doppler effect and mitosis later in life, she’ll already be familiar with lots of science vocabulary. 🤓 -Mama
I love this NF board book. It does not use baby talk or silly rhymes. It’s just since plain and clear. One science fact for every letter of the alphabet.
Discovered this at a babyfriend's house! The pictures were illustrative, and the words were highfalutin'. A couple choices I'd quibble with, but altogether amusing!