Hive Mind

Gr 5–8—The major problem with this hi/lo offering is that the facts are presented in a dense, dry manner and the fiction attempts to create excitement, but mostly falls flat. In a vague future world, Sid, who is bored in school (but does want to learn), amuses himself by taking complicated electronic things apart and "rebuilding" them, making them useless. He is rewarded for his destructive behavior when his mother enrolls him in a private science high school on Goddard Island. This man-made island, named for the man who is credited with launching the first liquid fueled rocket, has a particle accelerator buried at some safe distance underground (on the seismically active coast of California). It has a neat, collegelike setting where students are encouraged to explore what they love and everyone loves learning. The dull plot follows Sid as he is transformed from a student who daydreams and hates school to an engaged member of the class. This book aims to explain middle school science topics in an engaging, plot driven way but misses on all counts. And, beyond that, the science is treated carelessly: in a book about bees, drone and worker are used interchangeably; it claims Homo sapiens evolved from Neanderthals; they clone that Neanderthal to a fully mature state in a semester; the climbing terms used are made up; and the words "micro," "reduction," and "miniaturized" are used without regard to their scientific meanings.—Leila Sterman, Montana State University Library, Bozeman