Saturday, December 21, 2013

Review: Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith

Title: Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself (Nick and Tesla #1)
Authors: Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith
Source: Amazon Vine
Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Nick and Tesla are bright 11-year-old siblings with a knack for science, electronics, and getting into trouble. When their parents mysteriously vanish, they’re sent to live with their Uncle Newt, a brilliant inventor who engineers top-secret gadgets for a classified government agency. It’s not long before Nick and Tesla are embarking on adventures of their own—engineering all kinds of outrageous MacGyverish contraptions to save their skin: 9-volt burglar alarms, electromagnets, mobile tracking devices, and more. Readers are invited to join in the fun as each story contains instructions and blueprints for five different projects.

In Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab, we meet the characters and learn how to make everything from rocket launchers to soda-powered vehicles. Learning about science has never been so dangerous—or so much fun!


I love finding books that I can get into with my daughter.  Nick and Tesla is one of those books that parents and children (boy or girl) can love to read.  Nick and Tesla are great characters that are extremely intelligent and inventive.  They use their brains and whatever they can find in their Uncle's lab to create some really fun gadgets.  The mystery was fairly straight forward and perfect for the pre-teen age group.  I even enjoyed waiting to find out who the bad guys were and just what they were up to.

The projects in the book had fairly simple supply lists.  The items I didn't have around the house (Mentos and PVC pipe and caps) would be fairly easy to come by and not very expensive.  Since the projects need to be done outside, we haven't had a chance to do them yet in this cold December weather, but the instructions are very straight-forward with some well-placed diagrams to help.  We are thinking of trying the robo-cat this spring.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*


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