Cities: Discover How They Work with 25 Projects (Build It Yourself)

To a child, a city is a chaotic, vibrant community whose workings can seem quite mysterious. How did people create subways? How does the water get to the very top of a skyscraper? Is there any organization to a bustling metropolis? Cities: Discover How They Work gives kids a view into the inner functioning of urban areas. They’ll learn about all the parts that come together to make cities work and how they’ve grown and changed since the very first riverside settlements.

Fascinating sidebars, unique illustrations, Words to Know, and fun Did You Know facts combine with age-appropriate hands-on activities to make learning about complex urban environments fun and reinforce learning. Projects include creating subway cut-aways to understand how transportation systems work, building an aqueduct to learn how cities get water, and experimenting with skyscraper design and water filtration. This STEAM title, which integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and math includes a glossary, list of resources, and index.

Cities meets common core state standards in language arts for reading informational text and literary nonfiction and is aligned with Next Generation Science Standards. Guided Reading Levels and Lexile measurements indicate grade level and text complexity.

Kathleen Reilly has written several books for Nomad Press, including Planet Earth: 25 Environmental Projects You Can Build Yourself; The Human Body: 25 Fantastic Projects Illuminate How the Body Works; Explore Weather and Climate! with 25 Projects; and Natural Disasters: Investigate Earth’s Most Destructive Forces with 25 Projects. She is an award-winning author of several other science books for kids and is a contributor to dozens of publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, Family Fun, National Geographic Kids, and Parents. Kate lives in Raleigh, NC.

Tom Casteel is an illustrator and cartoonist with a master's degree from the Center for Cartoon Studies. Tom has illustrated several books for Nomad Press, including Natural Disasters: Investigate Earth’s Most Destructive Forces with 25 Projects. He is working on his first graphic novel. Tom lives in South Bend, IN.