That's Shocking!: Electricity in Nature

Description: In this nonfiction book, young learners explore the shocking world of electricity in nature--from lightning and electric eels to the hidden electric power in animals and plants. Packed with fun facts and hands-on activities for budding scientists!

Review Quotes: Despite their relative brevity, the four titles in the Electricity in Action series present an impressive amount of information about past, present, and future applications of electricity in graphic rich, pleasingly busy layouts. Pages are filled with photos, diagrams, models, fun facts, and sidebars, and supporting material includes a glossary, notes and references, and suggestions for further research. One nice series feature is that each title includes two accessible experiments, one early on to pique curiosity and one culminating activity that reinforces concepts. Amped Up! begins with a traditional copper wire and discmagnet motor, followed by experimentation with radio waves. Power Trip! goes with a DC-electron racetrack and an ecological round-up of home appliances known to be "electricity vampires" that should be kept unplugged (e.g., toasters, phone chargers, video-game consoles). That's Shocking! takes a more uncommon approach--describing electricity found in natural settings--and it has readers recreate static electric lightning bolts out of pie tins followed up by a Dominoe race mimicking cell and neuron transmission. Watt's Up? features a pennyand- lemon-juice battery and the classic science experiment, building an electromagnetic motor. The titles share the same author, resulting in uniform authority and enthusiasm; each volume also addresses negative aspects of various production methods. This handsome set will light up STEM collections.--Kathleen McBroom "Booklist"