C&EN’s Next Generation Of Readers

Maureen Rouhi’s editorial “Growing Up with C&EN” was a gratifying read (C&EN, June 17, page 3). My husband and I are chemists and we have taken to ripping out interesting articles from our copy of C&EN and putting it on the kitchen counter for our two children to read. Our boys read everything we put in front of them; I figured why not make it a science article rather than the cereal box or newspaper?

Our older son recently finished seventh grade, and anything we show him out of C&EN reinforces his science classes. It sends the clear message that what he is learning about in school has meaning in the scientific world. And he learns more about the forefront of science in so many different fields—mechanisms of DNA damage, solar-cell advances, how life started on Earth—the list is endless. Even our 10-year-old son loves to see the great micrographs. Both were astonished by the candied cicadas recipe.

Anyway, it was great to read about another parent, in a different context, using this magazine in a similar way, clearly with desirable results. We can’t wait until next year when our older son takes a chemistry class for the first time.

Patricia Wang
Lake Oswego, Ore.