Abacus [Hardcover]

 

 

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As a grade 5 teacher, I'm always looking for something different to enrich my literacy program. Abacus, by Chris McGowan is the perfect vehicle to introduce Science Fiction genre to junior students. It tells a tale of the adventures of 12-year-old scientist-extraordinaire, AP and 15-year-old ho-hum, Kate, who embody the archetypal brother and sister relationship. Even though Kate is tired of AP, concern for her brother exceeds each conflict in the story as they learn to trust each other and work together. This book is full of narrow escapes and deadly peril as the characters jump through time to King Arthur's Medieval England, the Wild West and the Battle of Little Bighorn, and the Ancient Egypt of Pharaoh Ramesses II, and back again. AP uses the "magic" of real science combined with his knowledge of History to get them out of each tight spot. Time-travelling purists need not worry about how their actions could change the present. AP explains the time travel paradox: nothing they do in the past will have an effect on the future - as soon as they leave, everything they did will disappear with them. Most novels end with a tidy conclusion, but this book sets the stage for a series.
For the teacher, there are supplemental readings to expound on the "real" history of the times and places visited in the book. In addition, there are comprehensive instructions to bring each of AP's experiments to life in your classroom, which can be tied in to several strands of the Grades 4-6 Science and Technology curriculum.

A Review by C.O., Grade 5 student

Abacus by Chris McGowan is a science fiction adventure story that is set in spectacular places, primarily in the past. There is a lot of science in this book connected to the abacus, a time-travelling machine, and to the `inventions' that AP, one of the main characters, makes during his adventures. AP, a 12-year-old boy, and his 15-year-old sister Kate, travel into the past with the help of a magical abacus that allows them to travel through time. Kate and AP meet both friends and enemies in their travels, witness some interesting events and also get into some very difficult situations, including being threatened to be killed by a man named Robert Drew. This man is a constant stalker of Kate and AP, and is always trying to steal the abacus from them. When each adventure is over, Kate and AP always manage to get back to 2010, but then want to go somewhere else back in time. Each new trip is its own dangerous and exciting adventure story.

One of the main themes that occur during the book is how Kate and AP learn to trust and rely on themselves and each other. Throughout the story they develop the ability to think and act quickly and this helps them to get out of many bad situations. An example of this happened in 1524 when Robert Drew grabbed hold of Kate and threatened to kill her if he didn't get the abacus. AP gave up the abacus to Robert Drew and then Kate stomped on his sore foot. Robert Drew fell to the ground, Kate grabbed the abacus and they made a run for it and escaped safely.

I really enjoyed reading Abacus. It was a very exciting book that was hard to put down. The author used fascinating settings for each adventure and combined this with a lot of interesting characters and a lot of action. There was never a dull moment in the book! I highly recommend this book for all ages.

Having read this book before publication, I have to be the first to tell parents especially how much their kids will love it. It's a time-travel adventure featuring a very realistic brother-and-sister team: 12-yr-old AP and his 15-yr-old sister whose constant teasing but genuine protectiveness of each other will ring true for any reader with siblings. The fast-paced fact-based story takes readers from Arthurian England to the Wild West to Ancient Egypt and each section is jam-packed not only with action, but also will fact -- history and science combined, but not in way that kids will scoff at.

If you are a middle-grade teacher with students aged 10-13, I highly recommend introducing this book in your classroom, either for independent reading or as a way to incorporate science into your lesson. AP uses science to get himself and his sister out of edge-of-your-seat emergencies (and back to present-time) and step-by-step instructions for his experiments are provided at the back of the book. They are simple and fun and a great way to get students excited about science.

And it's a wonderful read, too!

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