Andrea Beaty’s Ada Twist, Scientist is a bouncy rhyming picture book for 5 year olds about a little girl whose favourite word in the whole world is Why.<\/p>\n
Ada doesn’t say a single word until she’s three. Then she climbs the clock, her parents shout STOP, and out it comes. Why does it tick? Why are there pointy things on a rose? Why are there hairs up inside your nose? (Anyone who’s lived with a three-year-old will know THAT phase very well.)<\/p>\n
She never really stops. By the time she’s at school, her teacher has her hands full too.<\/p>\n
Then one spring day a horrible smell whacks Ada right on the nose. It’s so bad it curls her toes. So she does what scientists do. She reads up on smells, comes up with a hypothesis (Dad’s cabbage stew!) and tests it. When that doesn’t work, she tries another one. The cat.<\/p>\n
Testing the cat involves perfume and fancy cologne. You can imagine how that goes down. Mum and Dad have had enough, and Ada is sent to the Thinking Chair.<\/p>\n
This is the loveliest part. Ada sits and thinks, and her questions pour out until they cover the whole hallway wall. Her parents come back ready to be cross. Instead they look at that wall, and decide to help her find answers rather than stop her asking.<\/p>\n
It’s a really warm message for any family with a messy, curious child. The mess isn’t the point, the wondering is. And it never feels like a lesson. The rhymes bounce along and they’re great fun to read out loud, especially the bits where you get to shout “ADA MARIE!”<\/p>\n
Little ones will enjoy the chaos and the smelly cat. Slightly older ones will like that a real science word like hypothesis turns up and makes sense straight away. Is your house full of Whys at the moment? This one might just make you smile about it.<\/p>\n
When they’re ready for something longer, Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants brings Ada back in a chapter book. She’s still sniffing, measuring and saying Zowie, and it starts with a mug of coffee that doesn’t smell and her big brother Arthur’s very smelly tennis shoes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andrea Beaty’s Ada Twist, Scientist is a bouncy rhyming picture book for 5 year olds about a little girl whose favourite word in the whole world is Why. Ada doesn’t say a single word until she’s three. Then she climbs the clock, her parents shout STOP, and out it comes. Why does it tick? Why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10893,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":6741,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants","lr_seo_hook":"A girl who asks Why about everything, and a smell nobody can explain."},"book_tag":[20],"age_group":[21],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[92],"class_list":["post-6742","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-real-life-books","age_group-books-for-5-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-andrea-beaty"],"yoast_title":"Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A girl who asks Why about everything, and a smell nobody can explain. For ages 5+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n