What Happens When . . . ? : You Turn on the TV? Switch on a Light? Mail a Letter?

A group of miniature people takes young readers on a fact-filled journey through the way things work, explaining what is really occurring when people perform such everyday tasks as turning on a faucet.

but How does it work? Two books help encourage curiosity about the world around kids-and inside them, too. What Happens When...? by John Farndon, illus. by Steve Fricker and Mike Harnden, explains how Internet messages travel, how weather forecasters predict the weather and how flowers get to florists. Copious illustrations show the often elaborate chain of events behind everyday activities like flipping on a light switch or having a pizza delivered. While it's eerie to see what a girl's face looks like with half her skin removed, it's also quite informative. For The Human Body: An Amazing Inside Look at You! by Steve Parker, computers are used to combine photographs of real kids' bodies with anatomical models of skeletons, muscles and internal organs. Some of the roughly 240 photographs are taken with microscopes, and models of organs help provide an even more detailed inside view. The text explains not only how the body uses energy from food and defends itself from disease but, more specifically, how a hand grips a pen and a larynx makes sound.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In a world of microwaves and instant-just-add-water, it's easy not to pause and think about where that water came from. Farndon, Fricker, and Harnden have created a visually entertaining format for simply stated, clearly defined explanations of the technology behind 13 ordinary processes, from flushing a toilet to posting a letter, from watching a weather forecast to ordering a pizza by phone. Numbered text makes it easy to follow the stages of electrical current on its way to a house or a newspaper from reporting to delivery; fold-out pages take readers behind the scenes in making a pizza and delivering a letter from the US to Australia. The busy, cutaway cartoon illustrations--a cross between Waldo and The Magic School Bus--are full of action, detail, and humor. Small people aid the demonstrations, shredding paper with giant scissors for recycling, or zooming on high-speed surfboard vehicles along the information superhighway. They are visual reminders that certain jobs are labor-intensive, and reinforce the notion that each intricate process is multifaceted. A wonderful place to stop wondering about the world and start understanding the way it works. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 6- 10) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.