Essential Elements

SHORT TAKES

C IS FOR CARBON, written by Marilee Summers and illustrated by Kimberlee Wojtko. MackStorm Productions, 2005, 64 pages, $24.95 (ISBN 978-0-975307-80-9)

Is it ever too early for a child to begin learning about chemistry? A series of children's books designed to promote learning about the elements is taking a gambit to find out.

"C is for Carbon" is the first book in the planned "Adventures in Chemistry" series of "see-it-and-say-it" books, according to author Marilee Summers. The books have the simple goal of getting preschoolers and elementary schoolkids to establish relationships with element cartoon characters called "Chemies" and learn to say the names of the elements. The book encourages children to put up an accompanying periodic table poster and to start learning the roles of the elements in everyday life.

Summers, who studied art and chemistry and has an M.S. degree in education, has drawn on her past experience as a teacher of learning-disabled college-bound high school students to create the Chemies. She also is guided by her "love of chemistry," she says, and by the ideas and feedback of several Ph.D. chemists.

It would be nice to say that "C is for Carbon" is a book parents should run out to buy for their kids and one that every elementary school classroom should have. Unfortunately, the scope of the book, which takes a look at carbon and 25 other elements, is way too ambitious in its current form.

Each Chemie has its element symbol on its chest and is colored to match the color of the pure elements at room temperature. The Chemies also have arms and a pair of antennae, with the atomic number of the element written inside small balls attached to the tips of the antennae. Each element is introduced with a set of pictures that show some common objects in which the element might be found.

That's all pretty good stuff. But beyond that, the book becomes complicated.

The body shapes of the Chemies are drawn to match the shape of the atomic orbital of the valence electrons for the element. For example, lithium is a sphere, for an s orbital, and oxygen is in the shape of two spheres, one resting on top of the other, for a p orbital. The length of the arms represents the electron affinity of the elements, with longer arms meaning that the elements are better "electron grabbers." The antennae have different shapes (straight, curvy, and zigzag) to indicate increasing electronegativity of the elements.

The hands of the Chemies hold up fingers equal to the number of valence electrons for the element, and one hand holds a set of white stars equal to the number of valence electrons. Some elements, such as transition metals, have black stars instead of white stars to indicate that they can occur in different oxidation states.

Several pages of notes in the back of the book are useful to explain all the symbolism in the Chemies, but some basic chemistry knowledge is still required. Certainly the material is too complex for the target audience of two- to eight-year-olds, even with a teacher or parent reading along. I asked my son, who is in the sixth grade (age 11), to evaluate the book. He recognized this problem of age appropriateness. But like me, he still had an overall favorable impression of the book's concept.

For chemistry purists, there are some other details in the book to grouse about. For example, Summers attempts to imbue our "elemental friends" their own "special personalities," such as being good, bad, or lazy. All elements can be toxic or environmentally problematic either alone or in certain chemical compounds. All elements also can have benevolent uses. To imply one "personality" over another is pedagogically wrong.

Summers tells C&EN, but doesn't note in the book, that "C is for Carbon" is the platform for the overall book series, and that the idiosyncrasies of the Chemies will be revealed in books about each element. The first of these books, due out in March 2007, will be "Where in the World Is Fluorine?"