When my kids were little we loved the irreverent storybooks by Jon Scieszka, particularly the Stinky Cheese Man.

So I was delighted to discover at Powells, the best-bookstore-ever, that Scieszka and Lane Smith penned a book called Science Verse.

The book promises to make science fun.

With poems.

My favorite is:

Mary had a little worm.
She thought it was a chigger.
But everything that Mary ate,
Only made it bigger.

Wait. There’s more.

It came with her to school one day,
And gave the kids a fright,
Especially when the teacher said,
“Now that’s a parasite.”

Other gems include take-aways on space and gas.

The book’s interior includes a picture of the periodic table. As I learned at the ScienceOnline2012 conference in January, you can create your name from the elements with a little creative thinking.

Mine is Carbon, Iodine, Nitrogen (CIN) and Dysprosium (Dy): hence, Cindy.

So today I learned something new: Dysprosium is a rare element with a silver lustre.

Sweet.

Matches my hair.

Here’s a link: http://www.amazon.com/Science-Golden-Awards-Picture-Awards/dp/0670910570