Book Review: Nick and Tesla's Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove

Note: we did receive a complimentary copy of Nick and Tesla's Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove for the purposes of reviewing in. The opinions expressed are 100% accurate and 100% ours.

The new Nick and Tesla book - Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove - is the fourth in the series. And it is a fantastic novel. It is officially released on October 7, 2014.

I have read all of the books....more than once. Usually I read the book to myself first. Then I do some of the experiments. Then I read the book again, outloud, to my little brother. He could read them by himself, but I don't want to share my copy!

I liked all the experiments you can do at home by yourself. In the book, the mystery (story) is linked to science as four kids create a gadget glove to solve a mystery and save a museum. The gadget glove was a glove improved with electronics. Those functions were used to solve the mystery. What are some of the things the glove can do? It can blink a L.E.D., sound an alarm, record voice, and track fluorescent ink. 

I really enjoyed that Nikola Tesla was in the story and the mystery. This book explained a lot, from the past books, including Nick and Tesla’s name. 

With the great humor, mystery, and experiments, Nick and Tesla’s Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove is one of my favorite books, but I am not sure it's my favorite of the four. I really liked the first and the third books. But this one is still worth reading and reading again!

Book Review: Nick and Tesla's Secret Agent Gadget Battle

Back in October, R received his first Nick and Tesla book from the publishers, Quirk Books. He was instantly enamored and wrote a book review: click here.

Since then, he has waited - rather impatiently - for the sequels. Just in time for the second week of his Spring break, he received the third installment. He read it in a day. Then he read it again. He did some experiments from it. And, now, he's finally willing to share it with his little brother...though he reads it to D from his bed. D isn't allowed to actually touch the book.

I asked R to write a review. Here's what he had to say...

Nick& Tesla's Secret Agent Gadget Battle* 

by "Science Bob" Pflugfelder & Steve Hockensmith

The main characters, Nick and Tesla, are very clever at making gadgets to find the thief. They are also very funny because they are always betting and thinking up good adventures. I like their brother-sister interactions. But, of all the characters, I think I relate to Uncle Newt the best. Like Uncle Newt, I like making creations and a lot of my creations fail. Also, I am also very forgetful like he is.

Nick and Tesla’s friends – Silas and DeMarco –  are interesting because they don’t always understand Nick and Tesla, but they are always willing to help them. That misunderstanding adds humor to their interactions. They are also funny because they do stunts such as riding a bike down the slide and up a mud ramp.

The book taught me how to make fingerprint powder! It's just graphite powder from a pencil, ground with an emery board. I borrowed an emery board from my Nonna (Nonna means grandmother in Italian) and got ton of fingerprints off of things.

I also built a code wheel. See!

It's just like this one from the book...

My favorite quote from the book was, naturally something Uncle Newt said: “I’m not sure they’d believe me,” he said. “I think I lost a lot of my credibility after I called about Bigfoot.” It’s funny because Uncle Newt was calling to say that he found evidence that Bigfoot was fake. But the police misunderstood and thought he was saying that he believed in Bigfoot. It was all a comedy of errors.

My favorite scene was when they were in the Newtmobile during a car chase, pursuing a spy suspect. I liked the action of the high-speed car chase and the suspense of trying to catch the spy. 

I have to say that this was my favorite book of all three. I liked the mystery and I really enjoyed the secret aspect to the book. I didn’t know who was the spy or what would happen next. I especially liked all of the spy gadgets that I got to build. And I loved the way the book ended with the SBSP (space-based solar power) because I’m interested in solar power. I can’t wait for the next book. When is it coming?

*Note: we did receive a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing it. All opinions are 100% accurate and our own.

Star Wars Meets Shakespeare {Book Review}

Our Star Wars infatuation is not a fleeting crush. Call it a full-blown obsession. And it afflicts all four of us.

I remember seeing the originals in the theatre when I was a kid. Now, we own all of the DVDs and they are well-watched and still beloved.

Each May the 4th, the boys participate in Jedi Night at a local community center. They are tireless fans.

For Halloween a few years back, R and J built an R2 costume out of completely recycled and reused materials. I had to survive without my yoga ball for a week while they paper mached R2's 'head' out of my ball. As you can imagine, R won the costume contest at school that year.

And in the years since, he's been a Jawa and a TIE fighter pilot. As I said...just a wee bit obsessed!

So, last year, when I saw Quirk Books offering review copies of Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars*, I signed up immediately. We've been battling over the copy ever since. I've seen the copy in both boys' backpacks; I know it's been on vacation with us. But it took knowing that the second book in the series was coming - and my threatening to keep it for myself unless they relinquished the first book - that finally landed it on my nightstand. I read it in a single sitting.

from quirkbooks.com

I do not employ the label 'genius' very often. In fact, I'm sort of hard to impress. But I will shout it from the kilometer-high skyscrapers of Coruscant: Ian Doescher is a genius!

If you are anything like me, and my family, you know the story...by heart. You have watched movies...too many times to count. You have picked up the book because you're curious: how does Star Wars collide with Shakespeare? Or really - how does the familiar story translate into iambic pentameter?

Let me tell you. Doescher's execution is masterful. Like Jedi-Master masterful.

I never would have thought to align Star Wars with Shakespeare; I am not a literary genius, after all. But when you look at the villainy, the hubris, and the valor, the two - Star Wars and William Shakespeare - are quite natural bedfellows.

Complete with almost two dozen amazing illustrations, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars is a must-have for any Star Wars fan. But it's the writing - Doescher's incredible text - that has landed this book as a family favorite.

*Note: we did receive a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing it. All opinions are 100% accurate and our own.

Book Review: Nick & Tesla's High Voltage Danger Lab

Nick& Tesla's High Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, And Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself by "Science Bob" Pflugfelder & Steve Hockensmith

This is one of the first books I've actively sought out to review. Truth be told, I was looking to get a review copy for my son. He's in 6th grade. He's an innovator. He's a thinker. And he's an avid reader, but he is not a fiction-reader. Though I often catch him reading by headlamp in the wee hours of the night, he doesn't care for fiction. "I don't like novels," he claims. His nose is constantly buried in non-fictional works and even science textbooks from our friend who teaches at a local high school.

So, I asked my contact at Quirk Books, when I saw the description of the book, if I could get a copy. He happily obliged, saying that a review from the target audience would be great. When the copy came, I told Riley that I wanted him to give this fictional book a shot. He did. And he read it in a single sitting. Then he read it again. And, then, he started reading it aloud to his brother. Needless to say, I'm thrilled that this book has opened up his eyes to the land of novels. He did try a few of the experiments, too.

Here's what he has to say...(I gave him some guiding questions.)

What did you enjoy about this book?

I enjoyed how the experiments tied in with the story. For example: Tesla leaned over the bottle rocket, the instructions said not to lean over the rocket. So something bad happened. I won't ruin it for you. You just have to read it. I also thought the characters in the book were unusual and made the book funny.

What have you read that is similar to this book?

I have never read anything like this book. It is now on the list of my favorite books. I have read experiment books but I have never read an experiment book with a story behind it.

 

Who was your favorite character? What did you appreciate about him/her?

I liked the character Uncle Newt. He made the book really funny. His singing, his actions, what I imagine he looks like - from the description in the book - are all funny. Hilarious, in fact.

  

Did you find this book a quick read? Why or why not?

I read this book fast to my opinion. Most novels I read halfway, get tired of, stop reading it, and a while later I might come back to read it. This novel I read right through to the end.

What were your concerns about this book?

I would really like to read the next book in the series. And I'm not sure I can wait until February!

Note: we did receive a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing it. All opinions are 100% accurate and our own.