Get to Know Wedges. (Get to Know Simple Machines). Jennifer Christiansen. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.). ISBN 978-0-7787-4487-0 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4470-2 (hc.). Subject Heading: Wedges-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-5 / Ages 7-10. Review by Sherry Faller. **** /4
	Get to Know Wheels and Axles. (Get to Know Simple Machines). Paul Challen. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.). ISBN 978-0-7787-4488-7 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4471-9 (hc.). Subject Headings: Wheels-Juvenile literature. Axles-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-5 / Ages 7-10. Review by Sherry Faller. **** /4
	Get to Know Levers. (Get to Know Simple Machines). Karen Volpe. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.). ISBN 978-0-7787-4484-9 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4467-2 (hc.). Subject Heading: Levers-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-5 / Ages 7-10. Review by Sherry Faller. **** /4
	Get to Know Inclined Planes. (Get to Know Simple Machines). Jennifer Christiansen. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.). ISBN 978-0-7787-4466-5 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4483-2 (hc.). Subject Headings: Wedges-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-5 / Ages 7-10. Review by Sherry Faller. **** /4
	Get to Know Screws. (Get to Know Simple Machines). Paul Challen. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.). ISBN 978-0-7787-4486-3 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4469-06 (hc.). Subject Heading: Screws-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-5 / Ages 7-10. Review by Sherry Faller. **** /4
	Get to Know Pulleys. (Get to Know Simple Machines). Karen Volpe. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2009. 32 pp., pbk. & hc., $9.95 (pbk.), $20.76 (hc.). ISBN 978-0-7787-4485-6 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-4468-9 (hc.). Subject Heading: Pulleys-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-5 / Ages 7-10. Review by Sherry Faller. **** /4

excerpt:

You can find pulleys all around you. Pulleys can have belts or chains that help do work. Any wheel turned by a belt, rope, or chain is a pulley. (From Get to Know Pulleys.)

This series about simple machines, produced under the editorship of Bobbie Kalman, would be an excellent asset to any elementary school library. Each book features one of the six simple machines: pulleys, wedges, wheels and axles, levers, inclined planes and screws. Each volume provides a contents page while an index and bolded words in the text are featured in a glossary. The listed websites offer further on-line resources.

     Colourful double page spreads have labeled diagrams of the mechanics of the machine on the left and photographs of the machine labeled similarly on the facing page. Captions in bright yellow boxes explain the photo or pose questions for discussion, and yellow fact boxes offer more information. The next double page spread has a step-by-step experiment to try using the machine previously introduced. Pages near the back of the book show examples of the machine in real life and how they work together with other machines.

      The text, photos and diagrams are layered on a background of shaded blueprint plans, and the page numbers are found at the bottom of the page inside a gear carried on the back of a cute little man. The large font and spacing make the text easy to read for children from age 7 to 10.

      Get to Know Pulleys offers beautifully diagramed instructions for building fixed and moveable pulleys. In Get to Know Wedges, readers are challenged to be an artist, use their teeth and demolish a tower. They can learn about arrowheads and snow ploughs as well as how a cowcatcher on a train works. In Get to Know Wheels and Axles, you can take a ride on a Ferris wheel, build a toy car or create your own fan. In Get to Know Levers, first, second and third class levers are illustrated with labeled photographs. They are also shown as parts of complex machines. Glide down a playground slide, climb stairs at Machu Picchu and learn about aqueducts and funnels in Get to Know Inclined Planes. Readers can build their own screw using a pencil and a triangle in Get to Know Screws.

      These books in the "Get to Know Simple Machines" series will be sure to inform and intrigue children. They are useful as reference books and as hands-on experimental books.

Highly Recommended.

Sherry Faller is a teacher-librarian in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

 

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