I See Myself

by Vicki Cobb, Julia Gorton (Illustrator)

Overview

Look in a mirror. Who do you see?
Your very own self that's who!

Now look in a shiny doorknob or in a puddle. Can you see yourself in them?How about in the pages of this book?

You might not see yourself, but you will feel yourself getting smarter as you begin to understand how and why you can see yourself. Renowned science author Vicki Cobb illuminates the scientific principles of light and reflection in a way that even the youngest kids can understand. Follow this book with a young child who loves to play, and see the light in a whole new way.

Discover science, and the world will never look the same.

Fun hands-on activities and irresistible illustrations by Julia Gorton makethis book a perfect excuse to learn about science...just for the fun of it!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688178369
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/28/2002
Series:	Science Play Series
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	153,011
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Vicki Cobb is the author of many award-winning science books for young people. With degrees from Barnard College and Columbia University Teachers College, Vicki enjoyed an early career as a science teacher. She now devotes all her time to writing and speaking to teachers, children, and librarians all over the country. She frequently writes for the Huffington Post and is also the founder and president of iNK Think Tank, an organization dedicated to getting high-quality nonfiction books into classrooms. To find out what recent science experiment Vicki has been cooking up, visit her online at www.vickicobb.com. 

Julia Gorton has loved to get wet since her days as a teenage member of the Aquaettes. A local synchronized swim team. She is still passionate about water and is working to get a community pool built.

For a decade she has been delighting children with her inspired illustrations and dazzling designs. Her work can be found in the Science Play book I See Myself by Vicki Cobb, the MathStart book Super Sandcastle Saturday by Stuart J. Murphy, and Ten Rosy Roses, by Eve Merriam. Julia Gorton lives in a sprinklerfilled community in New Jersey with her husband, author-illustrator Daniel Kirk, and their three children, who splish and splash all around the town.

Editorial Reviews

These two entries in the Vicki Cobb Science Play series carry prefatory notes to the adult that could seem off-putting on a first encounter of Vicki Cobb. Read with a mirror, a flashlight and a ball? Have ready a number of containers and a lock of hair. Be near a sink! But, the design of the notes themselves immediately alert the newcomer to the vivacity and frolic that readers first found in Cobb's Science Experiments You Can Eat (HaperCollins, 1994) and have loved about her kind of science ever since. The note in I See Myself uses an uneven, bouncy yellow font that forms a cone of illumination cast from a flashlight. In Julia Gorton's hands, the stylized art articulates the sharp lines, brisk colors, and defined geometry that recall Colorforms, a cultural reference that points assertively to the books' call to the imagination. The bold patterns of the endpapers establish the book's visually "retro" attitude. In turn, that attitude infuses the subject and substance of these lucid, involving books that return to the familiar to imagine it, to discover it anew. Not only do they invite readers "to do the activities, without rushing, as they come up," but also they ground the reader with the recognizable and familiar. Both I See Myself and I Get Wet show a child character interacting with her/his domestic environment. Respectively, the girl observes and manipulates her surroundings as she learns about the reflective properties of light, as does the boy when he learns about the cohesion of water. Just as water magically climbs a strip of paper towel, so do these books perform magic in making awesome science discoverable by the hands and minds of young children. This review was written toaddress I See Myself and I Get Wet. 2002, HarperCollins, Mercier

PreS-K-Two basic concept books, one about the fluidity of water (Wet), and the other about the reflection of light (See). The initial page in each title is essentially the same, and Cobb suggests that adults should read this "Note to the Reader" in order to use each work to its best advantage. She advises that children listen to the text and stop to perform the simple experiments before reading continues. The equipment needed is readily available, and experiments are simple enough that youngsters can feel proud to have accomplished the tasks by themselves. Colorful illustrations, which appear to be generated by computer, range from visually appealing and clever to just plain boring. The text line can bounce off at an angle as in reflecting light or form the shape of a drop of water. Useful introductions for preschool science.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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