Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself by Bob PflugfelderMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab" is an interesting combination of story-telling and science experiment. The book begins with two siblings, Nick and Tesla, arriving at their uncle's house for the summer because their parents got called away on business. During the story, the kids make friends in the neighborhood, investigate an odd house with hostile occupants, and solve a local mystery. Nick and Tesla learn that not everything is as it seems.
The story itself is quite simple, and the characters are not quite three dimensional. Nick and Tesla argue a bit; their uncle is clueless; and their new friends instantly adopt them as leaders. You can feel the author stretching for more, but missing the mark by a hair.
But there are more books already written in the series, and I assume the characters have rounded out during the subsequent adventures.
In between chapters, the author explains how a regular kid can create some of Nick and Tesla's inventions. Here is where the book shines, because the project blueprints are complete and each project is quite fun, from the burglar alarm to the air rocket. I cannot praise these enough.
I recommend this book to kids from late elementary school to early middle school, young enough to appreciate the simplicity of the story and old enough to do the projects.
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