Written by: Joy Masoff
Published at Workman
About the book
From the bestselling author of Oh, Yuck! and Oh, Yikes!, with over 1.25 million copies in print, here is an A-Z compendium of hands-on grossness.
Featuring 114 interactive experiments and ick-tivities, Oh, Ick! delves into the science behind everything disgusting.
Stage an Ooze Olympics to demonstrate viscosity and the nature of slime. Observe how fungi grow by making a Mold Zoo. Embark on an Insect Safari to get to know the creepy crawlies around your home. And learn what causes that embarrassing acne on your face by baking a Pimple Cake to pop—and eat. Eww!
My Thoughts
Ok. Before I even start to talk about this book I do realize that it will not be the kind of book that many homeschoolers would desire to have in their bookshelves. But It is actually packed with very interesting information even if some of the chapters will cover some things like flatulence, boogers, vomit, poop and urine. Like it or not these things are part of our lives and we can learn a lot about the words that gross us out.
First let’s look at the table of contents. There are thirty-seven chapters which covers the following themes: arachnids, acids and bases, bacteria, blood, boogers, burps, crimes, dirt, earwax and ear hair, eyeballs, farts, fossils, fungi, garbage, guts, hair horrors, halitosis, icky ice cream, insects, lava, mummies, noxious noises, odious odors, offal and other awful eats, poop, quakes and sinkholes, scabs and stitches, slime, spit, toilets, urine, vile viruses, vomit, worms, yucky yolks, zaps, and zits. Each of these chapters is packed with information about the subject as well activities to do in order to better grasp the learning experience.
One thing that I am a bit disappointed with would be the fact that all photos and images are in black and white. I like seeing colors and it would be nice to have more colors in the book. But the book is very interesting and present fascinating information on the subjects covered in it. Let me give you some examples. Did you know that kangaroos can unleash environmentally friendly farts? Apparently Australia possesses numerous cows and sheep which are farting quite a lot. These animals pass so much gas that they are supposedly responsible for about 15 percent of the greenhouse gas emission on that island continent. Cows and sheep produce methane which is a gas that is detrimental to the environment. However, kangaroos possesses a unique bacteria in their stomach that get rid of the methane. So a researcher, Dr. Klieve is studying the possibility of adding kangaroo gut bacteria to cattle feed to see if it will help the cattle in reducing the warming gases that they pass. At another section of the book, you can find a detailed graph that will help you identified the type of animals who has left some malodorant pile of poo in your backyard. I think it is interesting that you can identify the culprit based on how their scat look like.
This book will allow your child to become an expert on interesting subjects and permit him/her to do fun experiment on subjects that you wouldn’t cover in school more than likely. This book allows you to cover lessons on chemistry, biology, and physics by using themes that might gross you out. It is a book that could keep your kids busy learning science during the summer months or just keep them busy when you need a day to catch your breath.
Oh, Ick! is available for purchase at your favorite bookstore, even amazon.ca and amazon.com.
Disclaimer: Thanks to Thomas Allen for sending me the above mentioned books for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.
