Edie's Experiments: How to be the best by Charlotte Barkla

Illus. by Sandy Flett. Penguin Random House Australia, 2020. ISBN: 9781760891763.
(Ages 8-12). Highly recommended. Being the new kid in a primary school is never easy and for Edie, who lives and breathes Science in her daily life, it can be a bit of a struggle to make others see the importance of her endless Science experiments and Environmental tests. This is the second book in this series which began with the book Edie's experiments: How to make friends .
Edie has settled into her class with her best friend Annie B, so when their teacher announces a science competition Edie is sure she and Annie can win it. However, a former student, Dean Starlight, who has spent the last year at a special Science school, returns. He is very popular with all the other students who all look up to him. He is an impressive student who always seems to have the right answers in the teacher's eyes and is extremely capable in class. However, when Edie tries to make friends with this apparent science soul buddy, he becomes quite sneaky and nasty, causing havoc with Edie and Annie's project with some very awful pranks.
Friendship and teamwork are important themes throughout this book and finding out the reasons behind Dean's behavior towards Edie forms an integral part of this story. Most of Edie's Science experiments involve an Environmental theme. Her family endures cold showers in her attempt to force them into saving water by having shorter showers as a homework project. Edie is all about doing small things to make an improvement to our environment and this is a lesson we can all take out of books such as these. She makes science look fun and cool for everyone.
I think these books could provide the kids who really like science an opportunity to engage with like-minded characters and follow their interests. Themes: Science, Experiments, Science competitions.
Gabrielle Anderson