Simple Kitchen Experiments: Learning Science With Everyday Foods - Hardcover

Gr. 4-6, younger with adult help. Mandell's raided the refrigerator and the pantry for the stuff of the experiments in this neat little book, which turns the kitchen into a chem lab with food as the focus. There's occasionally some chopping or cooking involved, but the experiments--running the gamut from mapping taste zones on the tongue to degassing beans--should be easy for middle-schoolers to manage, especially if they're comfortable with kitchen basics. A word or two of background prefaces each experiment, with Mandell going on to provide a list of what's needed, simple instructions, and direct, unpretentious commentary on what's happened and why it has occurred. And as Mandell says herself, "Eating is a bonus!" Here, kitchen wizards learn their facts by making bread, salad, and lots more. It's science that's tasty and fun. Black-and-white cartoon sketches add a note of humor, and a helpful glossary is appended. Stephanie Zvirin