This is a kit, and book set from the 'Beakman's World: Build With Beakman' series. It consists of; five petri dishes, five cotton swabs, two packets of Knox unflavored gelatine (with recipes on the back of them), a box with five pre-punched out holes, a book, and a small cardboard stand/image of Lester, Beakman and Josie, and a cover sheet. Besides the illustrations and text, the book has images of the actors and penguin puppets with speech balloons, with helpful information, or silly comments. The illustrations on page 5, of the virus invading a cell were also slightly redrawn for the book "Beakman's Book of Dead Guys and Gals in Science" (page 30). The book tells how the reader how to do various experiments with the contents of the kit, and has illustrated magnifications of what certain types of Bacteria look like under a microscope. Near the end it gives a history of their discovery, and of several scientists that made those discoveries.
The book is written by Luann Colombo writing as if addressing the reader directly. The front cover shows one illustrator Peter Georgeson, however on the copyright page Sylvia Shapiro is also credited as illustrator, the the art being based an episode of "Beakman's World. Peter Georgeson is also credited with the design of the book. Its Electronic Production was done by Suzanne Brooker and Millie Beard. The actors seen in the photographs are Paul Zaloom as "Beakman", Mark Ritts as "Lester", and Alanna Ubach as "Jose". This book is part of a series of the "Beakman's World" products, they are all based on the original newspaper feature, 'You Can with Beakman & Jax' by Jok Church.
Other books in the 'Beakman' series are;
--'You Can With Beakman & Jax' books;
* You Can with Beakman: Science Stuff You Can Do. ISBN: 0836270045 (June 1, 1992)
** El Mundo De Beakman: Experimentos Divertidos. {Spanish language edition} ISBN: 9706433856 (January 1, 2001).
* You Can with Beakman & Jax: More Science Stuff You Can Do. ISBN: 0836270088 (June 1, 1994)
** El Mundo De Beakman y Jax: Experimentos Divertidos. {Beakman & Jax} ISBN: 9706434151 (May 1, 2002)
* You Can With Beakman & Jax: Way More Science Stuff. ISBN: 0836270436 (June 1, 1995)
** El Mundo De Beakman y Jax: Mas Experimentos Divertidos. {Beakman & Jax} ISBN: 9706434666 (May 1, 2002)
* Beakman and Jax's Microscope Book. ISBN: 0836270215 (December 1, 1995)
* The Best of You Can With Beakman & Jax: A Collection of the Grossest, Weirdest, Coolest Experiments You Can Do. ISBN: 0836236661 (October 1, 1997)
* Beakman & Jax's Bubble Book: Plus Everything You Need to Make a Real Square Bubbles! ISBN: 0836227069 (September 1, 1997)
* The Best of You Can With Beakman and Jax: Over 100 of the Grossest, Weirdest, Coolest, Experiments You Can Do. ISBN: 0887248004 (September 20, 2005) The Best of You Can With Beakman and Jax: Over 100 of the Grossest, Weirdest, Coolest, Experiments You Can Do. {A reprint of the earlier 'Best of' book with new Acknowledgments/Greetings information.}
--'Beakman's World: Build With Beakman" books;
* Bacteria Farm 0836270134 (November 1, 1994)
* Electronic Intercom 0836270126 (November 1, 1994)
* Hovercraft 0836270401 (June 1, 1995)
* Spud Watch 0836270428 (June 1, 1995)
--Other Beakman's World books;
* Beakman's World: A Visit to the Hit TV Show. ISBN: 0836270053 (September 1, 1993)
* Beakman's Book of Dead Guys and Gals in Science. ISBN: 0836270142 (November 1, 1994)
* Beakman's Gear Up Your Gray Matter. ISBN: 0836270150 (November 1, 1994)
* Beakman's Gear Up Your Gray Matter: Volume II. ISBN: 0836270398 (July 1, 1996)
- ISBN10 0836270134
- ISBN13 9780836270136
- Publish Date 1 October 1994
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 20 January 2010
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Andrews McMeel Publishing
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Language English