Molecule Mayhem!

This is a pop-up book about chemistry with spreads on Atoms and elements; States of solid, liquid and gas; Reactions, Water, Air, Acids and bases; The human body; and Radioactivity.  There are many pulls, flaps and folds, and an elaborate, but rather fragile, pop-up of atomic structure.  There are suggestions for experiments, with adult supervision where appropriate.  The text is generally concise, and the ideas introduced on each spread may well stimulate readers to seek elsewhere for further information.  The illustrations are a mixture of serious scientific diagrams and cartoon-style pictures of scientists and of children performing experiments.

In some places the text is perhaps too concise: a flap on the periodic table gives no indication that some of the elements listed are found naturally, while others have been manufactured by humans.  Flaps on some specific elements give an explicit count of protons and neutrons in the nucleus, but no hint that the number of neutrons might vary; a flap on alpha radiation gives such a count for uranium, which without a caveat makes the fuss about the Iranian nuclear program unintelligible.