George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt (George's Secret Key)

I bought this to read to my students during the school closures during the 2019-2020 school year during our virtual calls. We had read the first installment as part of our curriculum. They were excited to continue with George and something familiar during an unfamiliar time. We all really enjoyed it! Just as exciting and full of science facts as the first one!

This is the second book in the Hawkings' George series. Once again their offering was a big hit with both my 5th grade students and my own children, 5 and 8.This book centers on the question of the possibilities of life elsewhere in the universe. George's next door neighbors move to Florida at the beginning of the book so that Eric, the scientist father, can oversee a Mars rover landing. This of course upsets George, but before long he gets an email from Annie telling him he has to find a way to visit her in Florida for a top secret mission. George's Grandma comes to his rescue with money for plane tickets to Florida for him and her as a chaperone, as well as money for George's parents to go visit an island slowly being affected by rising seas due to global warming.Once George gets there he finds that Annie has found a secret message demanding she go to Mars or the Earth will be destroyed. He also meets Emmett, a computer genius child, staying with Annie's family. Emmett and Annie don't get along at the beginning of the book and Emmett is portrayed as a stereotypical whiny computer geek. However, Annie soon learns to respect Emmett and they all go off on an adventure across the Galaxy using Cosmos the supercomputer (helpfully restored to functionality by Emmett). They believe an alien race must have sent the message. They end up finding a series of clues which lead them ever farther away from Earth and our solar system.In this book George and Annie learn that geeky supposedly annoying people are actually pleasant, fun, and helpful once you learn to treat them respectfully. Yes that lesson was rather cardboard-cutoutish... More importantly they learn about all the scientific issues around the search for extraterrestrial life. Eric, the scientist, also manages to come to the rescue of George's eco-activist parents and provides this particular book's treatment of one of the series's recurring morals, that scientists can help people who are concerned about the environment. Science is not bad for the environment. That particular message seems to be one the Hawkings really want to hammer home. Finally, there are good messages about forgiveness and the wrongness of jumping to conclusions about people without sufficient evidence.The book's story is interspersed with essays about various aspects of the scientific question of extraterrestrial life and space exploration in general. Once again there are full color Hubble pictures. Some of the science essays are once again over the heads of many elementary school students although it is obvious the essay writers were attempting to be easy to understand and interesting.The plot holds the attention of elementary school children very well and is quite exciting to them. As an adult, however, it is easy to spot many unduly contrived devices. For instance, the idea that an elementary school aged child could fix and reprogram a quantum computer which could not be fixed by Eric, one of the adult scientists who actually created it, beggers belief. There is also an issue with Cosmos which comes up that somehow stops him from being able to teleport the children back to Earth, but conveniently lets him teleport them ever further away from Earth. This, of course, makes no sense from an adult reader's point of view, but children accept this fact without fuss.The real worth of this book is not the plot, though. It is all the science information the book manages to pack into the story. Children will learn a lot about a truly scientific outlook on the issue of extraterrestrial life. They will also pick up many space facts. Children reading this book, or hearing it read to them, will enjoy learning all the science. Adults sharing the book with children will enjoy the book simply due to the science content they know their children or students are picking up. I am unaware of another series of fiction books for this age group that does the job of science education as well as this series.

I took my son to The Space Show at the Museum of Natural History several times which he loved so much. I thought I can gradually add more information about space to our daily routine and being a huge fan of Stephen Hawking I found this cook which he co-wrote with his beloved daughter, Lucy. We read the book together every night, it has almost 300 pages and not only did we enjoy doing this together but also learned so much about space through the narrative, a more useful way to remember facts for 6 year olds than reading off an educational book. While we read it we changed the names of all the characters to us and people we know in real life. Amazing weeknights for the entire week.

To save the universe, at least Earth, Annie and George must get to Mars, but Cosmo's the super computer isn't working, thus the two can't even get to the moon. "George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt" is another well written story for those who enjoy intelligent young adult stories with interesting facts about Venus and Mars. Both these planets have water, the main ingredient for all life, yet Mars and Venus are not in the Goldilocks Zone. The Goldilocks Zone is a term many scientist use to describe Earth's atmosphere, I learned that from reading this book. Remember Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the baby's things are all 'just right,' hence, Earth, it's the only known planet in the Goldilocks Zone, like the baby's porridge, not too hot, not too cold. Venus has temperatures up to 878 degrees, a bit hot for us humans, and the water on Venus is dried up. There are way to many facts about or neighboring planets pointed out in this book to list. This book along with the other two books featuring the cool kids, George and Annie are books well worth keeping and reading several more times.

Kids read the first book in school and begged for the second. The books in this series are engaging and entertaining. My kids stayed up late reading this book.

Although this book was "new" its spine was damaged most likely in transport. It looked as if it had been dropped, causing the top spine corner to be dented and slightly torn this book is for use in my classroom so I like them to start off in the best condition possible so they can be borrowed and loved over and over again

My son is four and reading on a 2nd grade level which I'm attempting to improve by getting him interested in more complex books. This series was an amazing teaching tool for us as it encourage him to take an interest in space as well as providing subtle ideas on things that hinder and help the environment. When it comes to bedtime he can't wait to finish reading one of his stories to me so that it's my turn to read to him and we can move right along in George's adventure. I would suggest this to anyone seeking to further a child's interest in reading and eduation. It's great with the set but can stand alone as well.

This series of books is outstanding (series includes George and the Big Bang and George's Secret Key to the Universe), it delivers the thrill of science as fun and exciting. It is imaginative, yet factual at the same time. This is an outstanding read for both girls and boys and a great introduction to encourage the pursuit of science and to lose the fear of thinking differently. My daughter absolutely loved these books and was intrigued by both the adventures and the facts regarding science and the universe. These books encourage children to think, philosophically and to challenge the norm. I highly recommend all three books.

Slightly amusing, entertaining and highly educational if you are into astronomy.

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Alle Bände genossen zu lesen :)

Good story and my 9 year old son has retold "all" the facts to us others in the family. He has loved all Georges books by Hawking.

Georges et les secrets de l'univers était plus "tous publics". Georges et des trésors du cosmos fait + bébé, l'histoire (et en particulier, le "méchant") est moins convainquante. Cela reste tout de même un excellent livre de vulgarisation scientifique. Je le conseillerais surtout aux plus jeunes.