Physics Fables [Paperback]

Five stories, five corners of physics — from the strangeness of special relativity to the math used by bees. In Physics Fables, a tortoise named Eloise races a literal photon and discovers that light breaks the rules of relative velocity; a girl named Sakura investigates why her village's oily sea has stopped giving up its eels and ends up conversing with a mermaid about density and buoyancy; a small bee named Clemmm (the end of her name sounds like humming) invents a coordinate system to share the location of a flower meadow with her hive; a butterfly named Arnold attends what may be the last great Conclave of all animals, seeing in ultraviolet and polarized light the rest of them cannot; and a lone adventurer named Zara carries a magnetized scepter across dragon-filled lands on a planet where gravity is gentler than our own. Each story is self-contained, and each one uses real physics and connects it to our everyday life.

Read a Sample Story

Written by Sarah Allen. Each story is illustrated by a different artist: Vladimir Djekic, Donna Schafer, Nathan Ranieri Moncao, and Marie Delwart. Formatted by Sue Balcer. Suitable for ages 9–12, though younger readers who love stories will find plenty to enjoy alongside a grown-up.

Shipping: This is a print-on-demand paperback. Please allow 2–3 weeks for printing and delivery. If you need it sooner, the paperback is also available on Amazon with faster shipping.

What's inside the book

Five complete stories totaling 116 pages

Science Notes woven throughout each story — sidebars explaining the physics concepts as they appear in the narrative (relative velocity and the speed of light, density and buoyancy, polar coordinates, animal color vision and perception, magnetism)

Science Activities at the end of each story — hands-on experiments and group activities, including a three-person relative velocity experiment, a message-in-a-bottle buoyancy challenge, a full Polar Coordinates classroom activity with materials list and instructions, a bubble thin-film optics observation, and a magnet interaction experiment

An "About this Book" introduction from the author explaining how to read the collection — stories first, notes when curious, activities whenever you like

Part of the Fairy Tale Physics series

Each book in the Fairy Tale Physics series is fully self-contained and can be read in any order. Physics Fables is a short-story collection, making it a natural entry point for readers who want to sample the series or who prefer variety over a single extended narrative. Characters and creatures from across the series make quiet appearances — keep an eye out.

About the author

Sarah Allen tutored math and physics for twenty years before becoming a full-time fantasy writer. She has a physics degree from the University of Washington (graduated with college and departmental honors) and a master's in Cognition and Learning from Columbia. Her goal is to write the sort of physics books she would have wanted as a kid.

Ages 9–12 · 116 pages · Color Illustrations · Five stories