Why Does Ear Wax taste so gross... and more top trivia!

Author : Mitchell Symons
Ages: 6+

About 6 years back, my elder son came inside the kitchen asking me for a bottle quarter filled with water. He then asked for a spoonful of all the spices in the kitchen, some coriander, yogurt, flour, rice, lentils, oil, my perfume, baby shampoo, shaving foam, crushed ginger and finally some acrylic paint. He then disappeared for about an hour, then came back and asked me to save his "special magic potion" in the kitchen window sill, and I obliged. Every time I glanced at it, mum instinct would kick me with a vengeance, but I was too busy to give it a thought. Eventually after 4 or 5 days, the kicks became too much to bear and I summoned my boy and asked him what was so special about the potion. My instinct had been spot on, he could find "no cat urine to go into the potion", so he wee-d into it and that I should "never worry, the magic would still work fine"! :oO!!

Some things never change with time. Some boys never change at all!

Recently, I discovered there is such a genre of books called "grossology".  Very aptly named, because these books can't quote more grosser facts! Like the one suggested in the title of this book...  Why does ear wax taste so gross.

While I was wondering who in the world would ever want to taste THAT, I overheard my boys ( standing in front of this book in the library) comparing the intricate effects that this thing and a very particular other thing had on their taste buds :o{ ...
and went gagging away :oC ...
only to find the book right beside their bedside table that night :o\.

I agree. My culinary delights are anything but delightful, but I had never ever ever ever expected my boys to resort to eating such appalling stuff! I should really try to cook more interesting things to eat. Or probably make my usual cooking look gross enough to interest them :o)

And just when I was wondering if this was a faulty gene-of-this-generation running in my family, I stumbled upon this mumsnet discussion about house rules. One of the mum had quoted " don't sit on your sibling and fart", and I realized I am not the lone mum with DSs obsessed and extremely "inquisitive and creative" with their output. :o)

Anyway, coming down to the book: this is not really the book of general knowledge or the quiz book that would get you prizes, but it is certainly something the kids will enjoy reading again and again. Some facts in the book aren't quite the useful stuff  - knowing that a rat can swim 72 hours non-stop isn't going to get you a degree. But it is a bit of info nevertheless, and little curious brains ( of boys, in particular) seem to relish such trivia. It also has loads of facts about body functions(!), inventions, famous people, films, history, geography. languages and just about anything.

I liked reading the bits about what kids wrote in English, history, science exams. Totally funny. Like this one:  "John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met." LOL! And " She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs" !!

And quite soon it dawned on me that I had read the book back-to-back without even realizing it :o)

I still decided against practically experimenting on the title, though!

Glenn Murphy and the Science Museum series

Author: Glenn Murphy
Ages: 8+

Let's admit it. There is just NO WAY you can ever succeed in curbing the kids' enchantment with the B-word and all its by products thereof. If you haven't guessed it, I am referring to "the bottom" and the various other B words (and A!) associated with it. It is just every family's safely guarded secret, I guess - these B-word substitutes in multi various languages and associated jokes. Well you can go into denial, but the sparkle in your kids' eyes on the slightest mention of anything related to B would shout "Gotcha!" in your ears!! And the endless giggles that would follow would make you wish you'd morph into an ostrich and bury your head in earth. ( Of course they actually don't do that, you should know that by now, really. Only figuratively speaking...) Particularly if said event occurs in front of just the very people you to whom you were trying to show off your thorough-bred breed :o)

Glenn Murphy certainly understood this. And proved it right by writing his famous Science Museum series books with enough info about all these things.  And also every kind of output from the human body. I bet more boys read this than girls, this fascination has always been a boys' thing, I'd say. Nevertheless, these books are hilariously scientific and the kids simply giggle away without realizing they are learning!

Glenn Murphy is a British-born author residing in the US. He started writing the science museum series while working for the London Science Museum. He says most of the info in his books, which is in the form of questions and answers, have been doubts he had been having in his childhood. His books have since been nominated for various awards and is a winner with children of all ages.

The titles are very "inviting" for children - like "Why is Snot green" and " How loud can you burp" and "Stuff that scares your pants off". Very informative (!) - kidding, they really are and written in a style that manages to keep even the kids with short attention span heartily occupied.

These books have fuelled many "smart" family discussions and I love getting these books for my boys. Needless to say, Glenn Murphy is a mega hero for my little ones!

He has also written a slightly serious book about our carbon footprints and how kids can do little things to reduce the same. Printed on forest friendly paper, this book is bursting with lovely bits of info, most of which apply to adults as well. I found it a very engaging read as well. It also has a set of cards included, one of which is my favourite that reads - People need lights. Rooms don't. Switch off when you leave. This just about sums up the whole book!

Science Museum series. Rip-roaring read ;o)