Book Review: Howtoons

I've decided to do some reviews of books that I think are great and should be used by science teachers. Here's the first one.

Howtoonsby Saul Griffith and Joost Bonsen, Illustrated by Nick Dragotta

Howtoonsis a great book of projects for kids of all ages. Everyone I've bought a copy for has been instantly hooked. Think of it as Make for kids. In fact if you read Make Magazine,you've already seen at least one Howtoon in each issue. The projects in the book are given more pages and so are more detailed than those that appear in the magazine.

Anyway, the projects are presented in comic book form, illustrating the adventures of two kids. There's a little back story and then the project. The plans are well illustrated and detailed enough that my son was able to grasp them even at the age of 7 (when we made our first marshmallow shooters). More importantly, they actually work and most don't have any really fiddly bits that need to be tweaked just right.

My son's favorite projects include:

• Marshmallow Shooter
• Duct Tape Body Armor
• Safety Goggles (which he modded into a face shield to go with his body armor)
• Bottle Rocket Launcher

To see some examples you should surf on over to the Howtoons Website. They have some example projects (that aren't in the book) and lots of other good info.

This is the perfect gift for kids (or their Geekdads). Personally, I like to have extra copies of Howtoonslaying around that I can use as ready made gifts for nieces and nephews.