Atoms (Kidhaven Science Library)

From School Library Journal Grade 3-5-These series titles provide overviews of their respective subjects. The appealing layout includes large fonts, many color photographs, and simple diagrams. Lasers covers the history of the device from Alexander Graham Bell, who came up with the concept, and Albert Einstein, who refined the theory, to the six men now credited with creating the first laser beam and, finally, to the use of lasers in modern medicine and technology. Nardo introduces atoms as the building blocks of matter and goes on to explain unstable atoms and radioactivity. The book ends with a discussion of nuclear power plants and other modern uses for atoms, such as PET scans, CAT scans, and atomic timekeepers. Lasers is a good companion to Nina Morgan's Lasers (RSVP, 1997). Atoms provides a simpler introduction than that found in Roy A. Gallant's The Ever-Changing Atom (Benchmark, 1999).