Physics Fables [PDF + eBook]

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.

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.

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

What you'll get

• EPUB of the book (for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, or any e-reader)
• PDF of the book (for any device, or for printing at home)
• Delivered by email immediately after purchase, plus available on your download page

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