The Experimenters: Luke and Ruby's Scientific Sleepover
Ruby and Luke are spending the midterm break at their nanny and grandad’s house which – given that their grandparents are retired scientists – means a week filled with exploring, experiments, and excitement.
Fusing narrative and non-fiction, each chapter of The Experimenters spotlights a story (say, Ruby and Luke dig up bugs while Nanny gardens). Then, the book throws in one or two ‘You’re the Scientist!’ pages with related facts and ideas for scientific connections (like the definition of an invertebrate, and instructions for making a bug hotel). The ‘You’re the Scientist’ spotlights feature Dr. Shane, who explains the science in the story and encourages young readers to do their own experimenting. And if Dr. Shane is familiar, it’s because his real-life alter ego is Shane Bergin, physicist and UCD professor (and now children’s book author!) whose science chats are regular segments on Irish radio programmes, like Newstalk’s Futureproof and RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne.
The Experimenters delivers its sound science in a beautiful package, with charming (and helpful!) illustrations of Ruby and Luke’s adventures from Sayani Mukherjee. Perfect for curious minds and budding scientists, this would be great book for a long weekend, or for bringing the classroom to life in the world around you. Readers who are anything like Ruby and Luke will be baking, making musical instruments, and planting seeds (both literal and metaphorical) alongside their fictional counterparts – this book and a cool notebook to record scientific findings would make the perfect gift for your favourite little experimenter.
