As we’ve said before, it’s an Ada Twist world, we’re just living in it. For kids of a certain age, see those kids who are between five and seven years old, Ada Twist has been tickling their STEM fancy since 2016. She started out in illustrated books, has branched out into chapter books, a Netflix show, and now 5-Minute Ada Twist, Scientist Stories takes the series to bed. The book doesn’t overtly say bedtime stories with Ada Twist. However, the five-minute timeline in the book’s title lets parents know that this is a safe place to read when it’s already ten minutes past where they should’ve been.
Sure enough, 5-Minute Ada Twist Scientist Stories really do take about five minutes to read aloud. There are 12 stories that pre-k through second graders will enjoy. The older kids will be able to read them by themselves or with minimal assistance, while those younger ones will patiently sit by as you read it to them. That sounds like I’m being sarcastic, but I’m not.
The pre-k audience knows the characters in Ada Twist. If they don’t actually know them, then they know of them and know that their friends know them. In a way, Ada Twist is the first water-cooler character that those ages will encounter. They’ll know the older, most established intellectual properties, but they do not have the thinking, STEM adventures that today’s tech kids might crave.
A great example of this is Cake Twist in which Ada’s mom realizes that she’s forgotten her wedding anniversary. Ada’s friends, Iggy and Rose come over to help her brainstorm on ways to help out. Baking is science, baking soda causes a chemical reaction and the kids recant the classic work motto of measure twice, bake once. In the end, the cake is not the way that her dad normally prefers it, but it’s Ada’s cake, and the untraditional twist that she’s put on the desert makes it even better.
One of the best ways to get kids to really understand fractions is baking, by the way. The kids have other adventures where they practice force, and physics, make simple machines, learn about electricity and carry out their experiments and hypothesis.
The illustrations in 5-Minute Ada Twist, Scientist Stories appear to be taken directly from the Netflix show. They’ve got that computer-generated look where the character’s heads look as if they’ve had just a bit of helium added to them. It’s the style that today’s kids won’t bat an eye over and have grown up with. The different stories are printed on different colored glossy paper. This effect lets those young readers have an endpoint in mind if they’re reading or thumbing through the book on their own.
And yeah, those kids who are able to read by themselves will want to read this by themselves. While they’ll willingly accept the bedtime story, it’s also designed for them to be able to read the longer text. Parents and educators will also appreciate the soft, non-preachy lessons that the characters encounter. Never give up, try new things, measure twice-cut (or bake) once, not to mention the real lessons that they’ll encounter in science and math will pay dividends in the future, even if kids think they’re just having fun reading now.
5-Minute Ada Twist, Scientist Stories is by Gabrielle Meyer and is available on Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams Books.
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