The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Elements: The Powers, Uses, and Histories of Every Atom in the Universe

My kids have loved paging through this book. I am a big believer in having reference books around for kids to look through and absorb information. We aren't reading this book straight through, but looking up an element when it comes up has been a lot of fun. It is filled with well-explained and age-appropriate science and fun illustrations. Overall, a great reference for kids.

I saw this book and instantly fell in love with it. It’s laid out beautifully. The illustrations are easy to understand and the information is given in knowledgeable and bite size pieces so it’s easy to follow. It would probably work best for middle school age kids and up, I certainly love it at 25!

I love this book. Such a wonderful way to teach your kids about Elements and for adults to learn the new ones. Illustrations are so creative like all of Lisa’s work. It’s very colorful to the eyes. I give this beautiful book 5 stars.

Wonderful illustrations !

I ordered this book “new” from Amazon. The pages are nice but the cover has scratches and other marks like it was used as a clipboard.

Great resource for understanding the history and aspects of the elements

The phrasing of explanations felt confusing at times. Was especially confused about the statement in Lanthanoids saying that "atoms of every element in this category have two valence electrons" but showing that they belong in group 3? Had to google more details and the results also says otherwise, made me doubt the credibility of this book...

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Elements begins with the basics. Before jumping into the individual elements, Congdon talks about what elements are and goes over atoms, compounds, states of matter, and alchemy and ancient chemistry. Next comes a spread on the organizer of the elements and author of the periodic table. That’s followed by a section on how to actually read the periodic table.It’s not until Page 22 that Congdon starts in on the actual elements themselves. Each one features a brief description of the element, how it is used, and what other elements it is often paired with. A box with the category, year discovered, who the element was discovered by, and a fun fact is also included.Congdon does an excellent job of pairing down each section into easily digestible information. Her use of white space and bright, bold illustrations also create an approachable feel.While the suggested age for The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Elements is 10 and up, I think you can go younger.For example, from the age of 4, my daughter has been fascinated by the periodic table. At first it was just the squares and letters, but over time it’s evolved to what those letters stand for and where those elements are found. For her 7th birthday, we gave her DK’s The Elements Book: A Visual Encyclopedia of the Periodic Table (ages 9 and up). She doesn’t understand everything, but spends hours at a time looking through it. While the DK book features glossy photographs and smaller snippets of text, in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Elements), the text gets top billing. But with how it’s written, I didn’t hesitate to hand it to my daughter. Sure, she still has questions, but she loves it just the same.The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Elements is a fantastic resource for young readers. With science, history, trivia, and much more, it has the making of a great gift for budding scientists and kids who just want to know more about the world around them.