Monday, September 17, 2018

Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith


Synopsis:
Nick and Tesla are bright 11-year-old siblings with a knack for science, electronics, and getting into trouble. When their parents mysteriously vanish, they’re sent to live with their Uncle Newt, a brilliant inventor who engineers top-secret gadgets for a classified government agency. It’s not long before Nick and Tesla are embarking on adventures of their own—engineering all kinds of outrageous MacGyverish contraptions to save their skin: 9-volt burglar alarms, electromagnets, mobile tracking devices, and more. Readers are invited to join in the fun as each story contains instructions and blueprints for five different projects.

In Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab, we meet the characters and learn how to make everything from rocket launchers to soda-powered vehicles. Learning about science has never been so dangerous—or so much fun!

(Synopsis from Goodreads).

My Thoughts:
Lately, I've been making it a major priority in my reading goals to read more of my physical books. I have thousands of them, and they usually just sit around collecting dust because I mainly read from my Kindle. I found the Nick and Tesla series on my bookshelf, and decided to pick up the first book because I've been in the mood to read middle grade fiction recently. I thought it was a great start to what seems to be a promising series.

Nick and Tesla had everything that I love in a middle grade series. It was filled with all of the tropes that make a series great, such as the eccentric not all there caretaker. Uncle Newt had me cracking up laughing several times. Although if he was the kid's caretaker in the real world, I'm pretty sure he'd lose the kids in a week or two from being so irresponsible. I also liked that it had kids that didn't fit the expectations that society places on people. It felt good to see Nick, Tesla, and their friends use their brains to solve problems, rather than physical skills. It made the book more interesting because you could solve the problems with Nick and Tesla while they tried to work through them.

Speaking of working on things right beside Nick and Tesla, one of the things that I loved about the book was the experiments and projects that were included. Unfortunately, I was not able to do them as I live in an apartment building that doesn't have a yard that I can use for that type of thing or anywhere to set them up. However, I did find it interesting to read all of the steps, and see everything come together in my mind for how it work out. I have a fiend that has children, and I plan on passing along the full series to her once I finish it so she can do the projects with them.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Nick and Tesla's High Voltage Danger Lab. I plan on binge reading the rest of the series in the next week or two, and then passing it along to my friend so her kids can enjoy it too. I can't wait to start the next book in the series tonight, and to see what kind of crazy hi-jinx Nick and Tesla can get themselves into next. I'm also excited to see what happens with the mystery character that was revealed at the end of this book. I recommend this book to older elementary kids that are interested in STEM. 


I give Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: 4/5.

Want to know more about the authors?
Bob Pflugfelder
Website:  https://sciencebob.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sciencebob
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sciencebob?lang=en
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sciencebob/
Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/source/sciencebob.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sciencebob
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ScienceBob

Steve Hockensmith
Website: http://www.stevehockensmith.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.hockensmith.7
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrHockensmith
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/146628.Steve_Hockensmith

I received this book from the publisher, Quirk Books, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

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