Science Geek Sam And His Secret Logbook

by Cees Dekker, Corien Oranje

Meet Sam Billington:

Favourite hobby: digging up old things (like fossils and dinosaur bones)

Who I’d want to swap with for a day: Tim Peake (astronaut)

If I could travel in time: I’d go back to AD 33 to Israel, to shadow Jesus and see what he gets up to

Favourite planet: Saturn

Because: apparently, Saturn would float in the sea!

When a meteorite crashes into Sam’s school bike shed, his class have a LOT of questions about space, the history of the universe, and life on earth. As they look for answers they struggle to unite what they discover with their faith – can they believe in God AND the Big Bang?

152 pages, Hardcover

Published October 20, 2017

Reviews

[Claire Lyons]

I read this with my 8 year old son and we really enjoyed all the links and extra things to do outside of just reading the book. I think it's great to have such a fun book aimed at children that explores ideas and allows for discovery... we enjoyed it together and it's nice to find a book that appeals to adults and children.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a fictional story with nonfiction science information woven throughout. It had my children rolling with laughter (though as a parent, I felt like some of it was a bit raunchy, but it's written for kids). There was also a narrative thread that really grossed out my children. The nature of the book made it a little difficult to read out loud, and my children had running commentary throughout, so I could barely get a few sentences read without having to stop for the comments. This was good and bad. As such, it was a very interactive book, and why it took us nearly 9 months to read through. I appreciated all of the science snippets and QR codes interspersed, though I felt like I had to choose whether to continue with the narrative or breakaway to read the science snippet about what was mentioned in the narrative. Clearly it was meant to read individually, but we made it work as a read-aloud.

I do think an important connection was missed near the end when Sam wrote to his uncle asking if you can still believe in God if you believe in evolution. Sam's uncle's response made sense, but it really didn't answer his question in terms of evolution. I know evolution in many ways is a complex theory to teach, but I do think it could have been written about in a simplified way to show why both can still be true. To put it simply, I felt like the uncle's response was a cop out, and there was a missed opportunity there.

We were recommended this book because one of our young children is very scientifically minded, so much so that this child was struggling with believing in God. Since my degrees are in chemistry and my interest is in Christian spiritual formation, I have long looked at science and Christianity as complementary. This book really helped my struggling child see that both can be true—that we don't have to throw out religion (specifically, our Christian faith) to believe what scientific discoveries indicate, and we don't have to disregard the science to see that our faith remains intact. Thanks, in part, to exploring these topics within this book, my struggling child's faith has been restored. For that, I will always be thankful we were directed to this book.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic idea for a kids book, lacking somewhat on the execution. There aren’t many kids books regarding young-earth creationism, evolution and science, overall those can be complicated topics to explain to young kids, specially the different viewpoints that exists around them.

Sam and his scientist uncle exchange several emails where they talk about being a Christian, interpreting science through a Christian lenses, and how those two do not come into conflict or even take away from each other.

I think the uncle could have done a much better job of explaining how being a scientist made him grow more in his faith. He does day this but in a generalized manner without much detail, which feels like a lost opportunity.


Overall, still worth reading to your kids as a read-aloud or have them read it themselves because there are so few books on this topic.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the idea of this book; not ultra-entranced by the execution. I read it to my kids, ages 8 and 6, and despite caveats am glad I did. It's great to have an introduction, for kids growing up with a lot of likely YEC exposure, to the ideas that people do hold different views regarding cosmogony, evolution, and the Bible, and that an ancient earth and evolution are not necessarily mutually exclusive with faith in God or worth the Bible. The book didn't go deeply into the arguments, but did a decent job of surfacing a number of them. It advocates listening to what science tells us through nature, and listening to a Genesis as a revelation of God and God's relationship with Creation and humanity

I found a lot of the narrated antics and attitudes of a grade- or middle-school-aged kid and his friends in the story to be annoying and distracting. I can't say for sure whether or not those elements were helpful, harmful, or neutral for my kids.

The book includes a LOT of sidebars, some work links to videos.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m so glad for this book, for its engagement with the issue of science and faith. For those who grew up being told they had to choose one or the other, this book proposes that the belief of God as creator and belief in evolution do not have to be incompatible with one another. This book aims to encourage the growth of good critical thinkers who aren’t afraid to ask questions. I recommend for older elementary students who love science. And I liked it too.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

*thank you to NetGalley and Lion Hudson IP Limited for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

3.5 stars.
What a fun read! I really enjoyed this. Science, religion and humor in one. I can see middle grade boys being the target audience. Plus it holds your attention quite well.