Monster Science

Ghosts and Atoms

Jodi Lyn Wheeler-Toppen, illustrated by Estudio Haus

$29.99, LB

Capstone, 2011

978-1429665810

January 13^th, 2012

Aliens and Energy

Agnieszka Biskup

$29.99, LB

Capstone, 2011

978-1429665803

January 13^th, 2012

Zombies and Forces and Motion

Mark Andrew Weakland

$29.99, LB

Capstone, 2011

978-1429665773

January 13^th, 2012

Bigfoot and Adaptation

Terry Lee Collins, illustrated by Cristian Mallea

$29.99, LB

Capstone, 2011

978-1429665797

January 13^th, 2012

Werewolves and States of Matter

Janet Slingerland Hammond, illustrated by Angel Mosquito

$29.99, LB

Capstone, 2011

978-1429665780

January 13^th, 2012

Genre: Nonfiction (Monster Science Series)

Age: 10+

Description: Monster Science is an awesome nonfiction graphic novel science series! In comic book format (of about 30 pages each), various science concepts are explained in a simple to understand and entertaining manner.

Opinion: With the love of the supernatural and graphic novels, tweens and teens will flock to this nonfiction series which helps to easily explain tricky scientific concepts. Each book is written by a different author, but they do overlap on a few concepts. The best of the series is the zombie book which is hilarious while the most disappointing was the Bigfoot book (because the illustrations aren’t as crisp as the other books). I never really learned science in school so a lot of concepts in these books were new to me so I can attest to the fact that I actually learned a lot and the fun combination of comic book story with nonfiction concepts made the content easy to follow and understand. Zombie and Forces and Motion was the best of the series in which the author used zombies to explain Newton’s three laws. For example, in describing momentum a zombie is chasing two boys who are driving a car. He grabs a hold of the bumper and while the car goes forward he tries to pull it back. The scene reads: “The car’s forward momentum will overpower the zombie’s backward pull. Hanging on, the zombie will get dragged along or its arms will be torn off.” This is followed by a picture of the car zooming away to safety with the zombie’s arms still attached to the bumper while the zombie, armless, cries out, “There go my arms!” These are quick and quirky reads with eye-popping illustrations. All the books are also humorous in their telling too. Each book includes a glossary, a further reading list, Facthound.com list of sites, and an index. This series is highly recommended for engaging science nonfiction.