"How is a song born?
Like laughter, it starts inside and rolls out."
(Jonathan Geffen, from "The Sixteenth Lamb")
In our case, not a song but rather a book, to be precise - a series of books, and no one planned in advance that it would be born just a few minutes after a global pandemic stuck us all at home.
The Davidson Institute's "Try It at Home" book series was born out of the thrilling combination of three factors:
· "The Grandmother of Books" – A few years ago, my grandchildren noticed that I always bring them books and gave me this nickname, which I accepted as a compliment. When the eldest of them arrived at preschool, she wasn't surprised when I presented her with the "A-Z Booklets" collection - a folder containing short booklets aimed at learning how to read. I looked at the booklets, her enthusiasm, and the opportunity to work with her, and thought: This is exactly the kind of activity I would love to do with her in sciences. I thought it would be wonderful to create the "A-Z booklets" science series.
· The exceptional abilities of Davidson's science communication teams—especially Dr. Avi Saig, who has been making the Davidson's "Science at Home" film series for many years, and has a following of fans chasing him in the streets demanding selfies. Since Anat Halperin's arrival in mid-2019 and under her leadership, we have greatly expanded the videos, topics, presenters – all excellent science educators of the Davidson Institute and children who volunteer to appear in the videos – guided and produced by our science communication experts. The product is the same idea as the booklets, only in videos instead.
· A partnership based on professional trust – more than six years ago, in January 2018, the manager of the "Sigaliot" publishing house, a woman named Sigal, "landed" in my office. She came in search of scientific editing of a book that was about to come out. Within a few months, she found herself enthusiastically "married" to a much bigger idea. The mutual trust we had in the high professional level of what we could create together gave birth to a fruitful and fascinating partnership.
We decided to test the idea, created one booklet, and –
Truthfully? We were disappointed.
On the way from idea to product, something didn't work. The spark we hoped would be in the booklets wasn't there.
Sigal suggested that instead of a folder with individual booklets, we should publish a book in which each "spread" (consisting of two pages, left and right) would be about one full experiment. Same idea, but in one batch. We decided that each experiment would be based and linked to a "science at home" video using QR codes that could easily be scanned. Collecting the experiments, writing, editing, illustrations, scientific accuracy and film production all took over a year. It quickly became clear that we had quite a few experiments and would have many more as time went by. Sigal recommended that we publish two books, as the beginning of a series. In August 2020, just before Rosh Hashanah and when we were all still going in and out of lockdown and wearing masks, the first two books in the series came out – and immediately became bestsellers. Many, many responded and wrote us moving words of thanks for the joy of being able to disconnect from Zoom, get away from the screens and access kitchen cabinets, soaps in the bath or potted plants on the balcony and discover the scientific phenomena hidden within.
To date, 6 books have been published in the series, and all of them have become bestsellers. While the first two books include scientific experiments on different topics, subsequent books include experiments around a central theme, each book on a different topic: the magic of mathematics; experiments with plants; optical illusions; and science in the kitchen (probably the most successful bestseller in the series, proving that food always speaks to everyone more than any other topic). Many Davidson professionals are involved in the different stages, all excited when a new book is published.
As someone who was born in the previous century, I am especially happy that children and adults still enjoy taking a book and discovering through it the pure pleasure of a simple, relevant and accessible scientific activity for anyone who wants to do science at home. Even today, four years later, sellers in various bookstores testify that the books are "wonderful and sell very well." How do I know? Because I still make a point of checking various Israeli branches of Steimatzky and Tzomet Sefarim book stores to make sure our books are placed on center stage. I admit that a few sellers will also testify to what happens if I discover – rarely, but it happens - that the series is hiding in the back of the store. After all, science or not, against the traits of a nagging mother that are in me there is no science experiment yet. Not at home or anywhere else.
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