by Jude Watson and K.D. Burkett
#1 Emergency in Escape Pod Four
#2 Journey Across Planet X
Review
by Toryn Farr
6/20/99
Set just after
ANH, these books follow Artoo and Threepio as they try to
carry out a "babysitting" mission for Princess
Leia, escorting a planetary governor and his 12-year-old
son Stuart to a new assignment in a hostile system.
Things go awry, and the droids, along with an adventurous
science droid called Forbee-X, must use all their
knowledge of physics and other sciences to get themselves
out of a series of jams.
The stories very smoothly integrate such topics as Newton's laws of motion, centrifugal force, gravity, friction, orbit, weather, seasons, aerodynamics, and bird migration into a surprisingly entertaining tale. Excellent line drawings clearly illustrate the concepts. I only wish I'd had these books when I was in high school.
In fact, my only complaint (other
than a printing error that replaced pages 45-46 with
55-56 in book #1) is that the books may be a bit too
difficult for the elementary school tyke. The vocabulary
is challenging, though not forbiddingly so, but as I
recall I didn't learn some of these physics concepts
until 11th grade. Just make sure an adult is handy to
help out if needed.
A great feature of the books is the inclusion of simple experiments to demonstrate some of the scientific principles -- a spinning umbrella and an action figure for centrifugal force, for instance.
The books don't really stand alone -- they both end with a cliffhanger, with the implication that #3 is in the works. I'm looking forward to it.
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