Rocket Science: 50 Flying, Floating, Flipping, Spinning Gadgets Kids Create Themselves. Jim Wiese. Toronto: John Wiley and Sons, 1995. 115pp, paper, $18.50. ISBN 0-471-11357-3. Subject Headings: Power (Mechanics)-Experiments-Juvenile literature. Science-Experiments-Juvenile literature. Grades 4 - 6 / Ages 9 - 11. Review by Lorraine Douglas. ****/4

excerpt:

We often take water for granted. We usually have it in a plentiful supply. We drink it, cook with it, water our lawns and gardens with it, and complain about it during droughts and floods. But water has other uses as well. It can power a rocket, tell time, and even generate electricity. Do you find that hard to believe? Try the following projects and see what water can do.

This nifty and appealing book should attract and engage children, parents, and teachers. Wiese, a science educator in British Columbia, explains in his introduction how you can be a good scientist, and how to use the book to do a science project. He also mentions that adult help is needed for many of the experiments (something also noted in the experiments themselves).