Monday, May 21, 2012

Irresponsible, Funny, Smart… Books by Sean Connolly



The books by Sean Connolly are all over the place. They’re about science, art, history and even jokes. You have to check them out! Since some are easy reading and some not so easy, I've given the basic reading level.

SCIENCE
 The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science: 64 Experiments for Young Scientists (middle school)
Think you’d like to make lightning? A potato gun? A rocket? A tea bag hot air balloon? This book is for you! Each experiment is clearly written out and often quite funny.
 The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science: 50 Experiments for Daring Young Scientists (late middle school)
More great ideas! Mini bow and arrow, Galileo’s telescope, water microscope… This book has more background information than the first book, giving you a better idea of what things were like when the first scientists did their experiments. The experiments to try are clearly written and use simple stuff.


MATH
 The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math (middle school)
If math is your thing, you’ll want to check out this book. Each problem includes survival strategies needed to solve the dilemma, a blank worksheet, a step-by-step solution, and a math lab with experiments and activities.

ART AND ARTISTS
The Life and Work of … Series (about grade 3)
There are at least 5 books in this series. Each book tells about the life of one artist. You'll read about how the things that happened to them and the people they met changed the way they made their art.
 The Life and Work of Henry Moore
I love the sculptures of Henry Moore. They are a bit odd but I could look at them all day. Lots of his sculptures are of people. They don’t always look like people but still, you have no doubt that’s what they are.
Other artists in this series:
daVinci
Cezanne
Klee
VanGogh

Lives of the Artists Series (late middle school)
Each book in this series also tells about a famous artist. The books in this series, though, give a lot more information.
 Claude Monet
Monet was one of the Impressionists. He painted in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are many of his paintings in this book. Even if you aren’t interested in reading a lot about Monet, the paintings are worth looking at.
Other artists in this series:
Botticelli
Michelangelo


JOKES
Laugh Out Loud! Series (early elementary reading – good for all levels)
You can never go wrong with a good joke book.

 The Monster Joke Book
What did the vampire doctor say? Necks please!
 The Animal Antics Joke Book
Where do you buy baby birds? At the chick out.
 The Funny Food Book
Why did the potato cry? Its peelings were hurt.

Sean Connolly has even more books, mostly late midle grade to high school. I certainly admire his ability to write lots of interesting books about lots of subjects!
Gail


No comments:

Post a Comment