cover image Explorer #1: Journey to the Center of the Atom

Explorer #1: Journey to the Center of the Atom

Carol Gaskin. Scholastic, $2.25 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-590-40336-8

The first in the Explorer series, which combines scientific data with the now familiar choose-a-plot format, begins slowly and never really takes off, though its educational aims are certainly worthy. ""You'' have the chance to shrink to subatomic size and join a team of scientists to discover quarks, and gluons, the particles that might hold quarks together. The facts ``you'' don't know can be used against youthus the charts and appendix on the atomic world. The author adds some humorous touches, but because most of the adventure is bogged down in other information, the fun falls flat. Ages 914. (May)