By Sean O’Brien, age 9
Mill Run Elementary, Ashburn, Va.
“The Curious Boy’s Book of Adventure: 100 Hijinks and Escapades,” written by Sam Martin is not a story; it is a book that tells you how to do some really cool things. The chapters are called “Exploring,” “Hunting,” “Experimenting,” “Building” and “Playing.” In each chapter there are lots of things to do.
For example, one experiment we tried is called “Putting a Boiled Egg in a Bottle.” First we had to take a hard-boiled egg, a glass bottle and three matches. We had to light the matches, put them in the bottle and then take a peeled hard-boiled egg and quickly put the egg on top of the bottle opening. A minute later, the egg will fall into the bottle. The hole is supposed to be smaller than the egg.
The experiment really works and because of the book, I understand how it happens. The heat from the matches expands the air in the bottle. The air eventually will cool off and it will create a vacuum that sucks the egg through the hole. This experiment took about 20 minutes.
Another cool and gross experiment was called “Cooking up Slime.” For this you need a small bottle of glue, food coloring, borax powder, water, a jar, a mixing bowl and a spoon. Pour all the glue into the jar, stir in food coloring, add water and borax and mix together until it becomes doughy. You can use your hands to knead the slime when it becomes too hard to stir. Then you are done and you can play with the slime!
I would rate this book 3 1/4 because it has some really cool things to do when you are bored. I didn’t give it a 4 because some of the experiments use materials that are hard to find and aren’t in your house.
I would recommend this book to curious boys.
RATING: *** 1/4
BOOK: “The Curious Boy’s Book of Adventure”
AUTHOR: Sam Martin
PUBLISHER: Penguin Young Readers Group (2007), paperback, 160 pages
READING LEVEL: Ages 12 and older
PRICE: $15
INFORMATION: penguin.com
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