Full Text Review(s)
[ Group 9 ]-" Each of these titles provides a comprehensive, yet easy-to-read overview in large, bold print. Explanations are concise and clear without being oversimplified, and the arrangement is attractive. Diagrams, drawings, and photographs appear on every page and complement the text well. Supplemental information is offered in boxed areas. Each volume covers an element’s history; where it is found; how it is extracted, purified, and used; and its chemical reactions. Arsenic includes topics such as the element’s use as a poison and its industrial applications. Cobalt discusses the use of the material as a coloring agent, as well as its role in human health. Lithium describes the chemical’s importance in batteries and in pharmaceuticals. Molybdenum devotes a chapter to the medical uses of a radioactive version of the element. The explanations and visuals provided for specific chemical reactions are especially helpful. In addition, each book has a spread showing the periodic table and the reason for each element’s position on it. Useful additions, especially for libraries who own other books in the series. –Maren Ostergard, King County Library System, Issaquah, WA"

[ Group 5 ]-"Information about the scientific elements for middle-graders is always welcome. This series organizes each book to provide all the facts that could possible be called for in a research report-what the element is, characteristics, habitat, uses, importance-concluding with an illustration of the periodic table and the specific element’s place in it. The colorful photographs, illustrations, and fact boxes bring to life what could have been a dull subject. Very readable in the page layouts, these books present accessible information in a fresh, bright way. These will prove to be the most popular items on the subject. Look for the other books in this series. Recommended."

[ Silver, Potassium ]-"Readable overviews of these elements. Explanations are succinct and clear, without being oversimplified, and supplemental information is provided in boxed sidebars. Relevant diagrams, drawings, and photographs, mainly in color, appear on every page. Each book covers the element’s history, where it is found, and how it is extracted and purified, as well as how it is used and its chemical reactions. Silver includes such topics as the element’s role in the history of money, ornaments, and photography. Potassium details the element’s importance in soaps and explosives, and in the human body. The large, bold text will appeal to younger readers, and the explanations and visuals provided for specific chemical reactions are especially helpful. In addition, each book has a spread devoted to the periodic table and element’s particular place in it. Good choices for reports."

[ Sodium, Silicon, Chlorine, Lead ]-"These large, readable texts (part of a series of 15) discuss where these chemicals can be found, how they were discovered, their characteristics and reactions, and their importance to our bodies and to our everyday lives. Each book includes colorful diagrams, photos, charts, and graphs, as well as ’Did You Know’ and ’See For Yourself’ information boxes. Readers will discover the atomic makeup and equations of each of the elements. One of the ’See For Yourself’ boxes in Chlorine tells readers how to make sodium crystals. Lead is written chronologically, beginning with Greece and Rome, where the element was used in the earliest cosmetics, drinking cups, pottery, floors, and coins. Glossary; index; periodic table. Recommended."

[ Copper, Aluminum, Sulfur, Phosphorus ]-"The expanding and highly recommended Benchmark Books ’The Elements’ adds four more basic introductions to its focus on the elements with Copper (0-7614-0945-9, $15.95), Aluminum (0947-5, $15.95), Sulfur (0948-3, $15.95), Phosphorus (0946-7, $15.95). Each holds 32 pages of basic introductory science facts about the elements, blending chemistry with fine color photos and discussions of environmental issues, properties, and where the element is to be found in nature. A wonderful, basic reference series certain to receive years of use."

[ Copper, Phosphorus, Sulfur ]-"These introductions offer clear, basic information, without oversimplification, in an appealing format. The books cover each element’s history, where it is found, how it is extracted and purified, how it is used, and its chemical reactions. Phosphorous also includes fertilizers and environmental issues. Sulfur has sections on its role in fossil fuels and rubber tires, warfare explosives, and medicine. Numerous full-color photographs, drawings, and diagrams, as well as boxed sections with additional information, supplement the texts. The explanations and accompanying visuals that describe specific chemical reations are especially helpful. In addition, each book has a double-page spread devoted to the periodic table. Useful additions."

[ Calcium, Hydrogen ]-"These attractive and readable series entries present the basics on their respective subjects. Each volume includes sections on the element’s atomic structure; where and how it occurs in nature; its reactions, isotopes, and compounds; its uses and practical applications; and information on the phenomena in which it plays a part. For example, Calcium covers building materials and the element’s role in the body while Hydrogen has sections on power and water. Each volume also includes the periodic table. Numerous sidebars give facts and trivia about the elements, scientists, and related historical events (e.g., the Hindenburg disaster). Good, clear diagrams help explain the concepts covered in the texts, and full-color and black-and-white illustrations are generally interesting and informative. These titles are somewhat simpler than those in the ’Elements’ series (Grolier), but are comparable in appearance and appeal."