Elementary

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (The Science Spell Book) through Raincoast Books.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.  

I LOVE science.  I find it absolutely fascinating looking at how God put the world together.  The intricacies of animals, the movement in plants, the wonder of chemistry.   It is so incredible it delights the mind and shows me the heart of God.   So when I saw The Science Spell Book I thought, cool!  A science book to explore!!!  How neat.  But I have to caution you… turning science into magic… it rubs me the wrong way.

There is much that I like in this book. I love the science contained within.  But I am hesitant about how it combines science with oracles, spells, portals, and lodestones.

The Basic Details

The Science Spell book: Magical Experiments for kids was put together by Cara Florance.  Published by Sourcebooks, this is a 224-page tome will with science experiments for children 7 and up.  

I am reviewing a softcover ARC for Raincoast books.   Part of this ARC was in full colour, it will be a gorgeous book when it’s completely done. Most of it was in greyscale so you need to be aware of that with images. 

Looking Deeper in the Science Spell Book

The Science Spell Book is divided into seven sections.  Each of the five main sections contains six experiments.

• Introduction with includes a foreword to caregivers, how to use this book, and what you need overall.
• Infusions:  Elixir of Englightenment, Masked Message, Spectral Breath, Color Inversion Spell, Sanguine Energy, and Transfigured Fare.
• Illumination:  Glowing Gauntlets, Extinguishing Effervescence, Magic Wand, Spellbound Circuits, Fluorescent Feast, and Astal Invocation.
• Sorcery:  The Oracle, Rune Stones, Planet Portal, Chaotic Calling, North Divination, and Magnetic Manisfestation. 
• Alchemy:  Starch Transmogrification, Forge of the Microbes, Aquafaba Ascension, Primal Pigments, Magical Manna, and Sorcerer’s Stone.
• Alchemy: Arachnid Revivification, Forest Nymph Conjuring, Dance of the Druids, Biomineralization, Mercurial Larva, and Bewitching Blossoms. 
• Glossary

You’ll find lots of colour.  This page below is part of the stuff to have section in the introduction.  This type of illustration is found throughout. 

I love the use of full colour for the title page with each experiment.  It’s so attractive don’t you find? It certainly draws me into wanting to do the experiment!   🙂 

Each section is introduced with a full-colour page and a bit of a write-up.  You’ll have to excuse the greyscale version here, I did want to provide some variety for you.   The write-ups introduce you to the field of study. Most of the information in these write-ups is purely factual.  Occasionally bits of magic creeps in, but overall it’s pretty innocuous. 

Each experiment lists supplies and instructions very clearly. Illustrations accompany to help stave off any difficulties you may encounter. 

I absolutely love that each experiment contains a section on how you can connect this to real life and explains the importance of what you have learned. 

A glossary at the close of the book helps you understand any words that might mystify you.  🙂  These definitions are very factual. 

Should you Get it?

Honestly, the science in these experiments is just science.  You can find many of these experiments without the hocus-pocus about them in a lot of different science books. You’ll find yourself working with batteries, red cabbage juice, cornstarch, needles, leaves and water.  Nothing too alarming anywhere in any of these experiments. 

The Science Spell Book is just creative marketing.   That said, I’m not keen on encouraging kids into the sorcery/witchcraft/magic end of things, particularly within faith households.  It’s one thing if it’s totally just a pretend world in fiction books but it’s completely different when you are linking it with the tangible world of science. 

So if you want a science experiment book this will work just fine.  If you use it as an educator, just for the experiments, it will work nicely for you.  It would be easy enough to avoid the hocus-pocus.  🙂  Just don’t get caught up in it!