This hefty book provides descriptions of technology middle graders will find familiar (refrigerators) and/or appealing (hoverboards). Multitudes of text boxes and images are corralled into sections of "Just the Facts" (overviews) and "Tell Me More" (deeper background), which include "Try This!" experiments, goofy photographs, and not-very-detailed diagrams of items. Sporadic profiles of scientists, entrepreneurs, and engineers are inserted throughout. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Revealing looks at the science behind over two dozen vehicles, household appliances, technological gadgets, and recreational challenges.This arbitrary assemblage of high-interest topicsmost but not all tech-relatedis more portable than the hefty National Geographic Science of Everything (2013) but also more scattershot. It targets younger enquirers with a combination of loud graphics, eye-catching digital images or composite photos (chortles an elephant on a bicycle suspended in midair: And Dumbo thought HE got air!), and mixes of quick facts with longer, reasonably specific explanations of processes and physical principles. Subjects encompass hoverboards and invisibility cloaks in the Beam Me Up section, toilets in Home Is Where the Fridge Is, as well as the history and physics of erasers and glues, bicycles, tightrope walking, hybrid cars, copiers (only the 2-D kind, though), and bounce houses. Each of the five chapters also includes a profile of a modern scientist or inventor and an easy-to-do or -modify Try This! project. Both in the photos and the digital art human figures show an inclusive mix of ages, genders, and pale but varied skin colors. Rewarding fare for browsing, but David Macaulays The Way Things Work Now (2016) or National Geographics aforementioned broader compendium will build sturdier foundations. (index, resource lists) (Nonfiction. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This cool and visually appealing book for kids on how things work chronicles everything from home and school gadgets (refrigerators, Post-it notes, thermoses) to thrill-seeking inventions (roller coasters, tightropes, bounce houses). Each chapter's Just the Facts section describes familiar inventions, like the escalator (first used as a ride in an amusement park), or things still in development, like invisibility cloaks. Additional nuggets of information are included in Tell Me More and Fun Facts sections, while Try This invites kids to solve challenging experiments and ponder hypothetical questions. This discusses some of the same technology mentioned in DK's recent Super Cool Tech (2016) hoverboards, invisibility devices, tractor beams but its jokes and graphics target younger readers. Profiles of scientists, engineers, and innovators responsible for these cool technologies are also found in this full-color book with plentiful photos, graphics, varied fonts, a glossary, further reading, and an index. Useful for reports or browsing for the inquisitive reader inspired to know why and how things work.--Rawlins, Sharon Copyright 2016 Booklist