Plato’s Pond — Middle School Kids Can Solve the Mystery

Posted on January 6, 2010 at 8:00 am

Plato’s Pond – US Edition is a great new mystery book for middle schoolers that lets them solve the crime as they learn something about science.
Watson and Crick (those names are a tribute to the scientists who discovered the double helix structure of DNA) and their friend Rosa try to catch a stray dog and find themselves on the other side of a gateway to a different world. In order to find their way back, they will need to solve a mystery. And in order to help them solve the mystery, the readers of the book have to perform some safe and simple experiments with materials found in the home (magnifying glass, soda bottle, vinegar, steel nails, etc.).
The Plato’s Pond website has more resources and information. And I have one copy of the book for the first teacher who writes to me a moviemom@moviemom.com with Plato in the subject line. Good luck!

4 Replies to “Plato’s Pond — Middle School Kids Can Solve the Mystery”

As a 4th and 5th grade devotee of the Hardy Boys my favorite book in the whole series was the Hardy Boys Detective handbook. It showed the experiments and techniques used in determining who the miscreants and all-around-bad-guys were. Shows like CSI have done the same for adults. Anything that encourages science and reading is fantastic. Best of luck to whoever wins the book (I have a good guess where the experiment listed above may be headed. Wear goggles!) I’m going to have to check these books out!

FYI: Barnes and Noble online is offering Plato’s Pond for $15.80.

That’s great, Fred! Thanks for letting us know!

Thanks, jestrfyl! Yes, I love the idea of getting kids excited about science by showing what experiments can reveal. I hope the book is a big hit!

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