Baby Loves Angular Momentum on Hanukkah!

September 15, 2021
A kippah-wearing tot celebrates Hanukkah and learns the science behind spinning dreidels. A White-presenting child with dark brown hair puts toy candles in a menorah and spins a dreidel with a young friend with medium brown skin and light brown hair. The simple text and illustrations go on to explain torque, angular momentum, and friction to elucidate how a dreidel spins upright before eventually falling over. The companion title, Electrical Engineering on Christmas! follows a similar formula. A baby with light brown skin and wavy, brown hair learns how a Christmas tree lights up via electricity, how an atom carries an electrical charge, where electricity can be found naturally, how a circuit is formed, and how people make electricity. A few holiday tidbits are shared in both offerings, as each kid guest stars in the companion title, with the welcome reminder that not everyone celebrates Christmas. Chan's art, like others in the Baby Loves Science series, does an admirable job of illustrating the science and looking inviting and playful in bright jewel tones. While the concepts are clearly explained and will work well for a preschool and early-elementary audience, many of the abstract ideas, particularly atomic theory and friction, may be a bit much for the putative baby audience. Babies will enjoy turning the holiday-festooned pages, but will they get the science? (Board book. 2-5)

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November 1, 2021

Baby-Toddler-These bright, vividly illustrated board books use Christmas and Hanukkah to explain scientific concepts. In Baby Loves Electrical Engineering on Christmas, a baby explores the world of twinkling lights around her, starting with the Christmas tree. "What makes the lights blink and twinkle? Electricity!" The story then launches into an appropriately simplified explanation of atoms, electrons, circuits, and electrical energy. In Baby Loves Angular Momentum on Hanukkah, the spinning dreidel is used as an example of torque and angular momentum. A basic description of how the game is played as well as why Hanukkah is celebrated blends nicely with the scientific topics. These high concept board books offer a unique angle on the traditional Christmas/Hanukkah book, with succinct explanations of the holidays and the scientific concepts they highlight. Chan's rich colors and happy faces offer the warm familiarity of family holidays as well as simple visual representations of the themes. VERDICT Recommended in library collections where board books are popular and where holiday books are in demand.-Kristy Pasquariello, Westwood P.L., MA

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