Explore Simple Machines!

December 1, 2011
Grades 2-4 This new entry in the Explore Your World series introduces the six simple machines in enough detail to include worm gears, all three kinds of levers, compound pulleys, and unusual examples such as boats (a type of wedge) and canal locks (an inclined plane). Yasuda writes in particularly clear, simple language and intersperses her explanations with historical notes, jokes that even the target audience will find laughably lame ( What did the apple say to the wedge? You split me up! ), and 25 easy projects or demonstrations constructed from common materials. She also repeatedly urges readers to spot and classify the simple machines that are all around, encourages the use of a science notebook, and closes her discourse with descriptions of what inventors and engineers do. Illustrated with simple black-and-white cartoons and capped with well-considered lists of print and other resources, this makes a serviceable, hands-on guide to the topic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)