Sometime ago my tween Diva commented casually “ Anything worth discovering or inventing was always done in Western countries. “
Me : That’s not true, India invented the zero and the Raman effect….
Diva : That was like vedic India or just after independence. There’s nothing after that.
Me: I am sure that’s not true, though I don’t know anything about it.
( Note to self – research what the Indian scientific community has been upto.)
When I had this at the back of my mind, I came across this book and I had to get it. Here’s my review about They found what.. They made what.
Book Name – They made what… They found what
Author – Shweta Taneja
Illustrator – Sharanya Kunnath
Publisher – Hachette India
Price – Rs. 399
About the Author Shweta Taneja
Shweta Taneja writes fiction and science for kids and adults. She has some global accolades to her credit. She was awarded the Charles Wallace Writing Fellowship and was the finalist in the prestigious French award Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (2020)
About the Book – They made what.. They found what
The book has a collection of 10 inventions and 10 discoveries by Indian scientists. They made what section is around 146+ pages and They found what section is about 130+ pages.
My review of They found what.. They made what
This is a fantastic buy for your children, especially if they are interested in STEM. Now you know how my review is going to be, but I was genuinely thrilled when I got my hands on this book. In They made what… They found what, you actually get two books for the price of one. It covers discoveries and inventions by Indian scientists and has a lot of fun elements and knowledge blurbs along the way.
Another thing I loved about the book was the unconventional way in which the book is designed and presented. The book is literally split in two and one section is printed from cover to cover upside down. You need to flip the book to read the other section. It is a fun way to present.
The book has a lot of curiosity quotient in the form of Sleuth Snoop, Foxy Facts and the Batty Cat Cracks section in the book. These are small blurbs that are peppered all over the book. They give additional facts about the topic on hand, some fun quiz kind of questions or interesting points. There are many such interesting fact checks and bubbles so it becomes a really engaging read.
My son who is 6 year old, also found this book interesting. With the upcoming summer vacation, my son has passed a diktat that I need to read him one story every day!
Special mention to the book designers and illustrators because it is due to them that the book has managed to become interesting for 6 year old’s as well. It is a fantastic choice for kids above 10 years who love to read up on science. It is in general enlightening to the parents as well as most of us don’t know about such scientific inventions and discoveries.
My daughter loved the story of Sonam Wangchuk and his Ice Stupas. She was also intrigued about self-growing molecular material. Shweta Taneja has managed to write about some of the interesting scientific discoveries and inventions without overwhelming the young readers. Her style makes the book engaging and knowledgeable without being overbearing or scholarly and boring.
I would highly recommend this book for all children above 10. This will make for a great vacation read and improve their interest and knowledge in science in a playful way.
I agree having a playful method and conversational approach works best for teaching our kids complex concept. My elder one is 12 and she is highly interested in STEM and science activities. I will surly check out this book for her. thanks a lot for sharing all details.
Wow!! This is something I would love to buy for kids. Thanks for sharing this as my girl is so curious about such books and activities!!
wow..I liked the title of the book. Sometimes kids ask certain questions that put our brain cells into action. This book seems a great read. Let me check it out for my daughter. Sh his very curious about Indian scientists.
I would love to gift this book to my son to encourage him and know about the many science inventions that are happening around us. It’s good for kids to look for inspiration within our country than the West, anytime.
hey even my kids think that most of the discoveries are made by western scientist. I need to grab this one to break their notion.
Your style of reviewing the book is great. This book is definitely going to fix its spot in my son’s library; he is all into STEM.
It’s amazing that our kids have so many choices to read from.now. I prefer letting them read the ones with good English rather than the ones with huge grammatical and other errors. This one seems good.
I know your daughter’s question must have momentarily perplexed you and I loved your review, will get this one for kiddo.
Ooh this seems like the perfect gift for my nephew! Thank you for the recommendation – I will definitely pick it up!
Indeed India is a land of a lot of inventions and discoveries that go unnoticed as well at the time. I am so happy that Shweta Taneja has come up with this book and complained about inventions and discoveries by Indian Scientist, Would love to read with my kids
To begin with, I really liked the book cover, it’s so beautifully done. And yes this book seems to be super interesting for kids. Going to grab a copy for my daughter too.
As a kid, I was always a curious kid and interested in Science and you could see me reading Encyclopedias those days. I swear by illustrations as they make the book more interesting to read and I am definitely sure the kids will love it and learn something from it!
Thanks for this write up!
Wow this looks interesting read. Kids would definitely love to explore so many discoveries and story behind it
Inventions and discoveries are always a good read. I like to gain such knowledge through stories and share it further. Would love to read author’s perspective through the stories.
A book that enchanted you and you kids would be the best book to read. I am surely grabbing this one.
Many inventions go unnoticed. And we get to know about them much later. How talented is wasted in this country. This is a unique book theme
what a lovely book find! even i would love to read about this – sadly, media and news does not cover all of this- which would really change the world by impacting the young minds as they see progress and creation and innovation!
This sounds fascinating and something my son would love, given his love for anything to do with science. Thanks for the review, I will check it out.