The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science.

My 11 year old loves all things science. When I first purchased the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Physics book, however, he tried reading it (he was 9.5 then) and didn't understand much of what he was reading. It went in the bookshelf for a while. Well, fast forward a year, it's now his favorite book. He even took it with him to his church youth camp for "casual reading" (yes, that's the type of kid he is!). LOL. The other kids didn't believe him when he said he's reading it for fun. The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science is basically a compilation of the Physics, Chemistry, and Biology dictionaries. I love these books because they're concise, yet contain sufficient information to give a thorough explanation for a kid who loves science. The illustrations are awesome to help those who are visually oriented get a better understanding of the concepts.The Physics portion covers -- Mechanics and General Physics- Heat- Waves- Eletricity & Magnetism- Atomic & Nuclear Physics- General Physics InformationThe Chemistry portion covers -- Physical Chemistry- Inorganic Chemistry- Organic Chemistry- Environmental Chemistry- General Chemistry InformationThe Biology portion covers -- Ecology& Living Things- Botany- Zoology (animals)- Zoology (humans)- Reproduction & Genetics- General Biology Information

Just as described and nice for being used

Great science overview for families who homeschool or love non-fiction. Detailed enough to hold the attention of older kids, illustrated enough to interest younger elementary students. Glad we have this on the shelf.

It's a very hefty and useful reference.

This makes a great addition to our science center for reading quick bites of information as well as vocabulary building.

Wonderful book!

Bought it to get my 10 year old an easy science reference book. Geared more for adult use in the way it is organized but also almost too basic for adults. It is hard for 10 year olds to check out something, only to realize they have to go find another term before they can understand what they are looking for in the first place. Also, topics are not organized alphabetically - you have to know which general area a topic belongs to if you want to find it. Again, not for kids and too basic for adults.