This illustrated non-fiction children’s book presents many famous experiments from the history of the World. Its author – Wojciech Mikołuszko – becomes a guide to past times from ancient Greece to modernity (the last entry is dedicated to the 1991 psychological experiment of Paul Harris, who investigated children and their ability to distinguish fantasy from reality). Each of the 21 chapters is divided into two parts: the former presents historical context of the experiment and the latter consists of basic experiments that readers can do at home. Among many figures, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur and their discoveries are discussed. Besides the do-it-yourself experiments at the very end, the young reader can invent her or his own experiment and describe it, remembering not to harm people or animals and prevent degradation of the natural environment! 

The only ancient historical figure listed in the book is Archimedes of Syracuse (c. 287–c. 212 BC) and the principle named after him as well as general laws of physics fundamental to fluid mechanics. He is also the very first figure presented in the book in the chapter entitled Naukowiec na golasa, czyli jak w wodzie zmienia się ciężar [Naked Scientist Or How Weight Changes In Water]: "With an adult man who ran in the public streets naked scientific experiments began" (p. 14). In this part "Heureka!" / "Eureka!" (Gr. Εὕρηκα, "I found [it]") is introduced as a symbol of significant discovery, but naturally before Archimedes some discoveries were made, even though people did not name them this way. Finally Archimedes’ experiment and discovery is presented: king Hiero of Syracuse asked him to investigate the purity of a golden crown – he had given his goldsmith the pure gold to be used, and later suspected he had been cheated by the goldsmith removing a part of the gold and adding the same weight of silver. The philosopher put it into the water and proved that is was made of an alloy of gold and silver and not one pure precious metal as its density was different pure gold. As writes Mikołuszko, that was not only the famous discovery later named Archimedes’ principle, but also a significant signal that experimenting is an important part of discoveries.  

Wielkie eksperymenty dla małych ludzi is a worth noting work of children’s non-fiction, a significant trend in contemporary literature for young readers. Especially in Poland – homeland of Aleksandra Mizelińska and Daniel Mizielińśki’s Mapy [Maps] a global phenomenon with more than 30 foreign editions – non-fiction for children is doing very well. Even though it is not a massive piece of a book (as Maps or Pszczoły [The Books of Bees] and Drzewa [The Book of Trees] by Piotr Socha and Wojciech Grajkowski are), its value is easy to spot. Not only the author presents more or less known historical figures – among them only one ancient ‛scientist’ Archimedes – but also guides young readers through the fascinating world of science and presents four experiments that can be attempted at home by the readers: 1)  Co tonie, co pływa? [What Sinks, What Floats?] 2) Ile wody wypłynie? [How Much Water Will Pour Out?] 3) Plastelinowa łódka [Play Dough Boat] 4) Kiedy pływa, kiedy tonie? [When It Floats, When It Sinks?]. The important part in each experiment segment is the final statement Zrozum swój eksperyment [Understand your experiment], in which all the empirical observations are described theoretically. This practical approach towards presenting science to young readers is rather less popular than simply encyclopedia-like descriptions, tableaus, graphs etc., as it seems to engage the child both in the topic and the reading itself.

Mikołuszko’s book is an interesting and important contribution to presenting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and figure of a scientist in children’s literature. All the characters depicted in Wielkie eksperymenty dla małych ludzi are rather eccentric. Archimedes is easily remembered not only as he is the very first to appear in the book, but also as he runs naked – can there be anything more extravagant? Archimedes may be seen as one of the best know scientific figures from ancient times, because of the amusing story of Eureka – in English, the word for running naked is ‘streaking’, so there are a lot of plays on the rhyme between Eureka and streaker.*

Illustrations are as interesting as the text itself. Joanna Rzezak’s works are comic, presenting ancient times and figures in a caricatural way, at the same time presenting the experiments as simply as possible to help the reader understand all the discoveries. One of her great concepts was to present the narrator – who may be identified with the author himself – taking a bath just as Archimedes did! This way both in the chapter (p. 18) and on the back cover, one can see Wojciech Mikołuszko in a bathtub. Also Mikołuszko himself uses an illustration made by Rzezak as his official portrait.

*I am grateful to Elizabeth Hale for this remark.

Radio interview with Wojciech Mikołuszko about his non-fiction books, including Wielkie eksperymenty dla małych ludzi (in Polish), accessed: January 10, 2019.

The illustrations (Courtesy of the publisher):

Back Cover (Courtesy of the publisher):