George and the Big Bang (George's Secret Key)

My 8 year old kid just love it!

This was another favorite read aloud for my fifth grade students and my own children, ages 5 and 8. Hopefully there are more books to come in the series as some things are left unresolved in the plot.In this book, George and his friend Annie are starting middle school. Annie's father Eric, a scientist, has just been named to a math professorship at Foxbridge University (Cambridge's doppleganger in this fictional world). He has also been put in charge of the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. How one scientist is supposed to be in charge of Mars rovers, the LHC, the Cambridge math department, and the guardian of the world's most powerful computer (quantum no less) searching for life around the universe, I have no idea, but it's fiction and he must be some sort of superhuman scientist. Anyway, the children readers don't pick up on this.In this book, Eric's old professor, the original creator of Cosmos along with Graham Reeper and Eric, makes his appearance. He is upset that Eric has used Cosmos to go to the moon and gets photographed by a satellite. He demands Eric be examined by the Order of Science in order to determine if he is a worthy guardian of Cosmos. A secretive group of anti-scientists makes its appearance. They are out to convince the world that the LHC experiments are dangerous. They have various reasons for not wanting the experiments to succeed which are revealed eventually in the book. Without giving anything away, I'll say I found their reasons rather far fetched. Frankly the LHC just isn't going to accomplish much of anything that they seemed worried about. The Hawkings really kind of overdo things here. But I guess they just wanted to impress children with how great the LHC is.Annie becomes infatuated with an older boy at her school, Vincent, who is a skateboarding karate kid. This makes George jealous, although the book kind of tip toes around the whole issue and never really resolves it. From an adult's perspective I found this whole crush thing rather odd more than anything. It sort of comes out of nowhere in the series and will hopefully be ended in the next book if the Hawkings write one. To go from George being her best friend for years to suddenly swooning over a new never before seen character George had never heard of before just seemed too big a leap the way they did it. That situation needed far more story development to make it believable. Once again, though, the children hearing the book read to them went right along with this plot development without thinking anything was amiss. The point of Vincent seems to be to provide the lesson to readers that stereotypical athletic cool kids can also be into science, sort of like Emmett 's character in the second book was there to show that stereotypical computer geeks are cool people too. Meh. That part of the book doesn't impress me.However, the science in this book is once again stellar. This book dips into quantum mechanics and the big bang. My students particularly liked the cat Schrody once I explained to them what the Schrodinger cat thought experiment was all about. They talked about that cat for the rest of the school year. As with the rest of the books there are various science essays spread throughout the book which sometimes are understandable to the elementary school aged audience and other times are not. The book also has full color pictures again including some of the LHC. Students will learn loads of science from this book just like the first two.The story holds children's attention very well and usually has them begging for me to read "just a little more." So even though as an adult the plot holes are kind of glaring at times to me, I appreciate the fact that children love the story. I'm more than willing to put up with odd plot choices for the sake of the great science content. The series does a fantastic job at making scientists into heroes for children. I don't know of any other fictions books that do it quite as well. So for that I give it 5 stars.

Geared for elementary school aged children, but also fun for us big kids. The science facts about outer and inner space may challenge college level minds as well. Rocks about 200 yards wide colliding with each other with about the same thrust as nuclear bombs formed planets, including Earth. So many neat facts from this book, featuring the characters George and Annie, two young kids not old enough to drive, but travel through outer space and point out intriguing facts about Earth, its neighboring planets and the entire universe in general. Anyone fascinated by the universe will most likely learn something from this book. Yes, there is a story-line to this book also. TOE, Theory Of Everything, an actual theory even Albert Einstein was working on, is being threatened by the villain in this book, and great science from past present and future is being threatened by the scoundrel in "George And The Big Bang."

I have read many of Stephen Hawking's books. They are great books, but I do not have a scientific mind, so I decided to read his books that target a younger audience. I was not disappointed. They are meant to entertain and teach at the same time. This is accomplished.Included in this book: facts about the universe, full-color space photos, and essays on scientific topics on the latest theories from some of the top scientist. This book is full of facts such as The Big Bang, Space, Time, Relativity, Large Hadron Collider, Singularities, Solar System and many more.You need to know as an adult reading this book that it is meant for a young audience so be prepared for a plot that is about a supercomputer that allows time travel, the characters are young children (parents are eco-activists and scientists), bad guys and good guys etc. I highly recommend the series of 3 books, they are great.

This book is one of a series by the Hawkings. While directed at youth and perfect for engaging that demographic, don't be misled. If as an adult you've always secretly been curious about the great scientific ideas but stymied by conventional texts, this series is for you as well. The fun adventure tale creates a context and problem so non-scientists can see the need for a solution. The authors then provide these solutions in clear explanations of principles as they apply to the plot line. THEN it makes sense vs just abstract descriptions. So join Annie and George as they explore the Big Bang and light up your and your child's imagination!

My 11 year old daughter devoured the first two books in the series and could not wait to get the next one. It did not disappoint. I highly recommend it. Great story line and a great way to get children interested in the sciences. It is equally appropriate to boys and girls as the two main characters are a boy and a girl George and Annie. Love it. Even younger kids would enjoy. It explains difficult concepts to children at their level. Fabulous idea.

My son is four and reading on a 2nd grade level which I'm attempting to improve by getting him interested in more complex books. This series was an amazing teaching tool for us as it encourage him to take an interest in space as well as providing subtle ideas on things that hinder and help the environment. When it comes to bedtime he can't wait to finish reading one of his stories to me so that it's my turn to read to him and we can move right along in George's adventure. I would suggest this to anyone seeking to further a child's interest in reading and eduation. It's great with the set but can stand alone as well.

I am six years old and I liked this book because Annie and George had to stop a disaster from happening at the Large Hadron Collider. It was exciting. It is good because I like learning about space and science. I like the George books so much that I'm pleased that there are five George books altogether.Message from mum - I've read all the George books to my son and he loves the space-based plot. The science bits are interesting for grown-ups too!

My 8yo son really loves this book, he asked to write a review and we just ordered the next one.

great book love it,lots of facts about the universe,amazing colour real pictures of the universe!!!I have read the first 2 and in the middle of this one.I strongly recomend all the books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!a real page turner!!!

My son doesn't like reading but the books in this range have been a godsend. My son is quite happy that they are written by Lucy Hawking (aka Mrs Genius) and are about how a little boy can do and sees amazing things!

Although I did enjoy this book I found it harder to get into than 'George's secret key to the universe'. Again I love the extra information about the planets which children should find interesting.