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How To Save Your Granny From a Runaway Train – Solved by Science by Swapna Haddow ill.Jess Bradley

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 5 Aug 2025

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Bonkers dilemmas that can be solved with science and a bunch of brilliant physics experiments.

**No grannies were harmed in the making of this book!**

Trick a shark! Lift a jumbo jet! Escape a deserted island! Stop a runaway train!

Explore a bunch of ridiculous (and not-so-ridiculous) dilemmas – with solutions from the astonishing world of physics.

Sounds unbelievable? Test the science for yourself, with easy-to-follow experiments throughout!

What are you waiting for? Let’s save Granny!

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Astrophysics for Supervillains – Supervillain Academy by Dr. Matthew Bothwell ill. Nathan Reed

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 9 Jul 2024

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Based on real questions from children, Dr Matt Bothwell — public astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy — has created the Supervillain Academy to teach astrophysics to middle graders.

Could you crash the Moon into the Earth?
If the Sun explodes, would we all get vaporised?
What’s the weather like on Mercury?

Discover the answers to these questions and many more at the Supervillain Academy, the magnificently morbid school for young bad guys-in-training. Facts about space are all well and good, but discovering that if you threw someone into a black hole, they would be spaghettified — stretched out long and thin before getting squashed smaller than an atom — is fascinatingly gruesome.

At the Supervillain Academy, readers will learn about the solar system, galaxies, the universe, and the answer to the question “Which planet is entirely populated by robots?” 

Entertainingly illustrated throughout by Nathan Reed:

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Us in the Before and After by Jenny Valentine

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 3 Jul 2024

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“Jenny Valentine’s novels offer an experience like no other. Never at a loss for an arresting phrase or an oJriginal insight, she takes her readers as far as they could wish to go and perhaps, for some, a little further than they might feel comfortable with. This present story of an ultimately doomed friendship between two very bright American teenage girls around forty years ago or so also weaves in theories drawn from the study of quantum physics.” Nick Tucker, BfK 5-star review

At the start of a long, hot summer best friends Elk and Mab face the fallout of a sudden death, and the lifelong consequences of a single tragic act.

An intensely emotional story that raises questions about love, ghosts, and the unshakeable bonds of friendship.

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Spark, Shine, Glow! What a Light Show by Lola M. Schaefer ill. James Yang

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“Challenging but illuminating.” KIRKUS

What is light, and how does it shape our world? Acclaimed author Lola M. Schaefer and award-winning artist James Yang illuminate the essential concept of light in this playful and informative picture book.

Light is everywhere: from the shining sun to a bright light bulb to a glowing firefly. Light from a flashlight helps you see in the dark, and light from the sun makes plants grow. And did you know that light makes X-rays possible, and also keeps cars, trucks, trains, ships, and planes moving safely? It even allows us to see deep into space! Where would we be without light?

 

The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe by Sandra Nickel ill. Aimee Sicuro

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ACHUKA Book of the day 22 Mar 2021

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“Several Rubin quotes are included, and a lovely Rubin epigraph concludes the book. Numerous delicate illustrations aptly feature dark blue, star-spangled, galactic backgrounds.” KIRKUS
“Whether representing Rubin’s thoughts or a winter snowstorm, striking watercolors repeat concentric circles and curves, suggesting images of swirling galaxies, the very subject that prompts Rubin’s work. Sicuro solves the problem of depicting dark matter by gloriously representing it as if seen through a spectrometer, like “glitter caught in an invisible halo.” Appended with an author’s note, documentation of direct quotes, a timeline of Rubin’s life, and a bibliography.” Horn Book

A  biographical picture book telling the story of a female astronomer who made huge discoveries about the mysteries of the night sky and changed the way we look at the universe.

Vera Rubin was one of the astronomers who discovered and named dark matter, the thing that keeps the universe hanging together. Throughout her career she was never taken seriously as a scientist because she was one of the only female astronomers at that time, but she didn’t let that stop her. She made groundbreaking and incredibly significant discoveries that scientists have only recently been able to really appreciate-and she changed the way that we look at the universe. A stunning portrait of a little-known trailblazer, the picture book tells Vera’s story and inspires the youngest readers who are just starting to look up at the stars.

 

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