My children and I have enjoyed reading all the books in this series together. They have a very readable narrative style while at the same time are fairly rigorous. The historical approach not only adds interest for its own sake, but I think gives a more accessible entry into the concepts of modern chemistry. I appreciate the uninterrupted text and clean page layout. Too much nonfiction for kids is broken up by sidebars, short, disjunct bits of text, and distracting graphics, which makes for very difficult reading aloud. It is refreshing to read a longer text straight through to feed longer attention spans!