Illuminating World of Light with Max Axiom, Super Scientist

Description

You never had a science teacher like this! Max Axiom is a super-cool super-scientist. Using powers he acquired in a freak accident, Max demonstrates and explains science in ways never before seen in the classroom. Whether shrinking down to the size of an ant or riding on a sound wave, Max can do whatever it takes to make science super cool and accessible.Here, comic book hero guides readers though the topic. It includes fast-paced, easy-to-read text. It features frequent sidebars. It provides more about section. Read more resources at FactHound.com Internet sites.

Emily Sohn is a freelance journalist in Minneapolis, who covers mostly health, science, environment and adventure for both kids and grown-ups. Among other publications, her work has appeared in U.S. News & World Report, the Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian, Backpacker and Science News for Kids, and she is a contributing writer for Discovery News. Assignments have taken Emily to exotic locations around the globe, including Cuba, Fiji and the Peruvian Amazon. Nick Derington is an artist currently living and working in Austin TX.

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/-- "Curriculum Choice blog" 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. Light Sunshine, sun-bathing, rainbows and lightning are all the phenomena Max attempts to explain in this episode. Just to make sure we understand it all he embarks on space voyage in his compact space-shuttle, all the way to the Sun to observe nuclear fusion that creates energy some of which is visible light. He also rides a beam of light at the maximum possible speed in the universe, and obviously has a lot of fun doing it! But we see here that Max is also a human being, he visits a museum, has a cookie and a hot drink and relaxes watching telly when his work is done.-- "Felix, Imperial College London student newspaper" Recommended by Booklist in the Series Roundup section.-- "Booklist" 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-- "Examiner.com"