#549 - Smartypants Series Again

by Anushka Ravishankar and illustrated by Pia Alizé Hazarika

“Smartypants Series” by Anushka Ravishankar and illustrated by Pia Alizé Hazarika. Published by Duckbill. The third set from a delightful series consisting of three books which explain interesting mathematical and scientific concepts to a super smart and curious cat called Smartypants.

Smartypants is back this time trying to understand his way around more curiosity inducing new topics. The three books this time are - “Cell Theory For Smartypants”, “Set Theory For Smartypants” and “Rockets For Smartypants”. The core concepts of each of these topics have been presented in a conversational manner with Smartypants. There is no dearth of wit, humour or antics throughout the narrative. The examples used to explain are simple and easily relatable.

Smartypants is happy to learn the topics. As usual, he thinks that he has figured out everything only to be nudged back to reality by the narrator. He comes up with quite a few questions some of which are outrageously hilarious. All of these are patiently addressed though he might not necessarily like the responses every time. After all his vanity is at stake you see :) Sometimes he does have a hearty laugh and draws the readers to laugh with him as well. Read the books to know about cells and how they work in organisms, concepts of sets and how they work, rockets, satellites and the likes.

My ten year old has loved reading the earlier books from the series. The topics were very interesting for him this time around as well. While he knew a bit of cell and rocket theory, set theory was a completely new topic for him. The explanations are simple and accompanied by gorgeous illustrations. They captivated his attention and he was eager to turn the pages to understand the topics along with Smartypants. It is fun to see how the author anticipates the creative questions that curious learners like Smartypants might come up with and explains them in such an engaging manner. We couldn’t resist laughing out loud imagining Smartypants trying to launch himself like a rocket and take off by eating a lot of beans :D The topics have been made interesting and appealing to children. This makes it such a delight to read these books.

PS - The posts on the other books from the series are available at “Smartypants Series” and “Smartypants Series continues”.

Recommended Age

The books are apt for children aged 6 and above.

Disclaimer - We received these books from the publisher, Penguin India (Duckbill), for review. Thank you to Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the books!