Electricity

Children's Literature - Hazel Buys

Electricity is immensely helpful to us in our daily lives but seems invisible and mysterious. Twist uses the natural world to introduce children to the study of electricity by presenting some of the ways children use electricity and explaining how electricity is made and how it moves. Each two-page spread asks a question, for example, "What are insulators and conductors?" and presents simple graphic images that explain the principle and the process at work. Cautionary sidebars remind children to save electricity or to never poke their fingers into an electrical outlet. Color images of the natural world are collaged on simple contrasting-color backgrounds with labels in simple text. Images of children playing games on a computer, reading with a flashlight or getting something to eat from a refrigerator are interspersed throughout, giving a visual punch to the idea that understanding the science of electricity and good fun go together. This book, one of the "Science Everywhere!" series, succeeds in introducing the study of electricity while making reading appealing and the subject matter easy to understand. The book concludes with a series of questions and answers about the information covered in the text, a glossary (words printed in bold in the text) and an index, and is recommended for a pre-school or early elementary school classroom or library. Reviewer: Hazel Buys