Jack and the Geniuses

At the Bottom of the World

By: Bill Nye

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

New York Times best-selling authors Bill Nye the Science Guy and Gregory Mone take middle-grade listeners on a scientific adventure in the launch of an exciting new chapter book series, Jack and the Geniuses. The perfect combination to engage and entertain listeners, the series features real-world science along with action and a mystery that will leave kids guessing until the end, making these books ideal for STEM education.

In the series opener, Jack and the Geniuses: At the Bottom of the World, listeners meet Jack and his foster siblings, Ava and Matt, who are orphans. But they're not your typical kind of orphans - they're geniuses. Well, Ava and Matt are, which sometimes makes life difficult for 12-year-old Jack. Ava speaks multiple languages and builds robots for fun, and Matt is into astronomy and a whiz at math. As for Jack, it's hard to stand out when he's surrounded by geniuses all the time.

When the kids try to spy on Dr. Hank Witherspoon, one of the world's leading scientists, they end up working for him in his incredible laboratory. Soon Hank and the kids travel to Antarctica for a prestigious science competition, but they find that all is not as it seems: A fellow scientist has gone missing, and so has any trace of her research. Could someone be trying to use her findings to win the contest? It's up to Jack, Ava, and Matt to find the missing scientist and discover who's behind it all - before it's too late.

Integrating real science facts with humor and suspense, and featuring an ensemble cast of loveable boy and girl characters, this uniquely engaging series is an irresistible chemical reaction for middle-grade listeners. With easy-to-understand language presented in a fun, motivating, and accessible way, this series opener is a great book for both inquisitive kids and reluctant readers. The book also includes information about the science discussed and used to solve the mystery as well as a cool science project about density that kids can do at home or in the classroom. Bill Nye's brand-new talk show series for Netflix, Bill Nye Saves the World is set to launch in spring 2017.

©2017 Bill Nye (P)2017 Recorded Books

Engaging

This story and narration are engaging. The characters engage both the reader and science. Yes, one scene has a character with a gun, but I honestly don’t know how that scene could have been done differently. (Response to other review.) I especially love the facts about Antarctica at the end and the do it yourself science experiment!

Slight disappointment

My daughter and I really wanted to love this book but felt it lacked character depth, portrayed a few stereotypes, demeaning of the main character/outcast (could be considered bullying) and definitely should not have had a gun part. This is for kids not adults. I hope the second one is better 🙂

Changing the speed

I liked how you could customize it. And make it your own for better reading

Interesting Tale

An easy read. Sometimes I felt adults wouldn't really let kids do some of the things these kids did, but the science woven into the story made it more plausible that an adult would think the kids were smarter than most their age. Plus, the science stuff was pretty cool because I'm a science nerd at heart.