Do your kids roll your eyes when you say science is important?
Or toss their books on the floor, declaring that they hate science, school, their teacher… or everything?
Mine do all of that. And honestly? I get it.
I remember myself in school, day-dreaming about Tyrabell, the elf-fairy queen riding her fiery pegasus to battle, while the teacher was blabbering about atoms and molecules and… something about stuff inside other stuff.
But then I noticed how my kids lit up when I told them stories, whether it was Tyrabell, Asterix, Beowulf, or Neo. They weren’t just listening, they were absorbing.
And it’s really no coincidence. Like Christopher Booker discovered in his 34 years of research, we’re wired for stories. Our brains react as if we’re living them, so humans have used them to understand the world and shape society.
So I asked myself: Can you imagine teaching science like this?
What if Neo wasn’t the hero who freed the Matrix, but a fed-up nitrogen atom fighting Radon, a rogue particle who was tearing apart the molecular villages?
Or what if Holly was a timid skin cell, who had to sacrifice herself to stop the hordes of invading germs and save her beloved cellular society?
Wouldn’t you remember Neo and Holly easier this way?
So why do we give kids flat and boring science books?
My mission is to change that.
I want to give kids fun and emotionally rich science adventures that they will actually understand and remember.
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So if you are a parent, a teacher, a scientist or just someone who believes science should feel like magic
and be part of a growing tribe that wants to make science fun and unforgettable for the next generation!
Who am I?
My name is Nina.
I am a mother of three wonderfully curious (and quite naughty) boys, and I have an MS in Chemical Engineering.
When I was in the university, my younger sister came to me, threw her math book on the floor and said:
“I haven’t opened this nightmare all year, I’m going to fail my exam!”
Having passed that class myself, I decided to help.
I had one week to explain complicated math to someone who hated it with passion!
Challenge accepted!
Then something amazing happened.
The fact that not only she passed the exam, but she got a whooping 80% score, infected me with the love of turning science into fun for kids who hated it.
For 10 years I was helping “bad students” (rendered hopeless by their teachers) to fall in love with science and succeed in school.
-And then I had kids-
When my oldest began reading, we took him to a bookstore and told him:
“Pick anything!”
He came back with J.P.Green’s The Investigators, a hilarious graphic novel full of colors and action.
Through books like that, he learned how to read in record time and even his principal was amazed.
I loved how graphic novels captured all my kids, but I couldn’t find any that would offer more than entertainment.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t get enough of how their eyes sparkled with wonder every time I was explaining to them about why the sky is blue, how come our dog doesn’t get to do math or where did all the water in the pot go.
“I can’t find a graphic novel that teaches science and there’s no science book that he will read past page one”,
I kept complaining to my husband.
“Then make one”, he finally said one day.
“Yeah, I wish”, I laughed it off.
“No I’m serious”, he insisted, “you have the best market research: you are constantly surrounded by your audience”.
“But I am not a writer”, I argued.
“You’ll learn”
“But I’ve never drawn a single line in my life”, I countered.
“You will learn”
“I have zero equipment or experience”, I said, thinking I won.
“Then just start”, he said.
After much internal (and quite external) debate, I was finally convinced.
Challenge accepted! Again!
I began from scratch, with two toddlers and a tiny baby, climbing all over me, grabbing every spare moment I had to learn and practice.
Four years later, that baby isn’t a baby anymore and I’m holding a book in my hands. I made millions of mountains of mistakes, I redid the whole thing 4 times, but I learned a ton!
I couldn’t be happier that I get to share this immense effort with you,
and I can’t wait to just keep starting.
