Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself (Nick and Tesla’s High Voltage Danger Lab)
Nick and Tesla are bright 11-year-old siblings with a knack for science, electronics, and getting into trouble. When their parents mysteriously vanish, they’re sent to live with their Uncle Newt, a brilliant inventor who engineers top-secret gadgets for a classified government agency. It’s not long before Nick and Tesla are embarking on adventures of their own—engineering all kinds of outrageous MacGyverish contraptions to save their skin: 9-volt burglar alarms, electromagnets, mobile tracking devices, and more. Readers are invited to join in the fun as each story contains instructions and blueprints for five different projects.
In Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab, we meet the characters and learn how to make everything from rocket launchers to soda-powered vehicles. Learning about science has never been so dangerous—or so much fun!
Mystery and Science Equals Fun 11-year-old twins Nick and Tesla are not having the summer they’d planned. Instead of relaxing with friends and a family trip to Disneyland, they are hustled off to their uncle’s when their parents have to rush off to Uzbekistan for some kind of soy bean irrigation breakthrough. Ah, the life of government scientists’ kids.They haven’t seen Uncle Newt in years. He’s a cross between a mad scientists and an absent minded professor. Not exactly the best guardian, but he lets them have (almost) free reign of his lab. That’s how Nick and Tesla come to build a water powered rocket. But on its first flight, it lands in the yard of a mysterious house. Trying to get it back, Nick and Tesla stumble on something strange. What is happening? And will their gadgets help them solve the case?This book aimed at middle grade readers should be a big hit. The story is interesting, but the gadgets that Nick and Tesla make to help them solve the case will really appeal to the audience. There are instructions for recreating the gadgets in the book, and kids will love that aspect of things.As far as the mystery goes, it started a little slowly, but once it got going it was very interesting. It’s a short book, and I think it will appeal to young readers who are reluctant to pick up a book. The characters were a little shallow, but kids won’t care. And what do you expect from 230 odd pages.This will make a great Christmas gift, giving kids something to read and then given them ideas for projects after they are done. In other words, it will keep them occupied during the break.Personally? I’m already looking forward to the sequel.
Engaging story for kids, interesting projects The premise of the book is interesting. There’s the story of the adventure of the twins Nick and Tesla, and some gadgets they built, with instructions if you want to build your own. I passed the book to my daughter (elementary school age), and while she said she enjoyed the book, she didn’t provide me with any details, so I had to read it for myself.The writing is engaging, the characters are interesting, and the story flows easily. It suffers from some of the flaws as most children’s books. Almost all the adults in the story are portrayed as incompetent, eccentric, hostile, or “the bad guys” – or a combination of them. They name the location where the adventure took place specifically (Half Moon Bay, California) but failed to mention anything unique or special about the location. Things that happened in the book did not quite make sense when all is revealed. “High Voltage Danger Lab” is also misleading. A little bit of mystery is left unexplained, most likely to be continued in the sequels.The projects themselves range from extremely easy (the burglar alarm) to mildly complicated (the air rocket). They should not take long to complete and parts are easily available.I reviewed an advance reading copy of the book so I can’t comment on the final layout.Overall, I think it is a fun book for kids that provide them with some interesting project ideas when they’re done with the story. I look forward to the sequels.