Friday, June 21, 2013

Stronger Than Steel by Bridget Heos - ESSENTIAL


Heos, Bridget Stronger Than Steel: Spider DNA and the Quest for Better Bulletproff Vests, Sutures, and Parachute Rope, 75 p. Houghton Mifflin, 2013.  $19.  Content: G.  NON-FICTION.  

Spiders are creepy and fascinating all at once.  Humans have admired their beautiful webs, while being freaked out by their buggy-crawliness simultaneously.  Scientists, on the other hand, admire the strength and other properties of spider silk.  Getting an abundant quantity of spider silk is a daunting prospect, however and scientists have developed unique (odd?) ways to increase the world’s supply of the material.  How about goats?  

This is the weirdest, but still fascinating, addition to the Scientists in the Field series.  It is still really well written and I think that boys in particular will engage with it.  I still think this entire series should be in the collection of every elementary and middle school in the country.  

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

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