Joe-Joe the Wizard Brews Up Solids, Liquids, and Gases

April 1, 2012

K-Gr 3-Using a somewhat goofy cast of colorful, illustrated characters, humor, and a situational storyline in a picture-book-like format, this series explains important scientific concepts. For example, in Gertrude, two monsters discuss what separates living and nonliving things. In Joe-Joe, a student at magic school wants to turn his boring old science homework into a chocolate bar but ends up with chocolate syrup instead. With the help of his teacher, he learns about states of matter. The concepts of density, volume, buoyancy, and gravity are difficult to explain, but in Captain Kidd, pirates gamely provide explanations using treasure and their ship, The Driftwood. In the final volume, D4, a helper bot, elucidates facts about basic physics. Kids will get wrapped up in the stories long enough to learn some science.

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.