Forces Make Things Move (Let's-Read-and-Find-out Science Series)

by Kimberly Bradley, Paul Meisel (Illustrator)

Overview

Read and find out about force and how it works in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book.

When a toy car rolls or a boulder falls, it's force that makes them move. But what is force and how does it work? There are forces at work whenever you throw a ball, run up the stairs, or push your big brother off the couch. Want to learn more about the forces around you? Read and find out!

This clear and appealing science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom, uses simple, fun language, easy-to-understand examples, and cartoon-like art to make basic physics concepts understandable and fun. This book also includes a kid-friendly experiment in friction.

This is a Level 2 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades. The 100+ titles in this leading nonfiction series are:

• hands-on and visual
• acclaimed and trusted
• great for classrooms

Top 10 reasons to love LRFOs:

• Entertain and educate at the same time
• Have appealing, child-centered topics
• Developmentally appropriate for emerging readers
• Focused; answering questions instead of using survey approach
• Employ engaging picture book quality illustrations
• Use simple charts and graphics to improve visual literacy skills
• Feature hands-on activities to engage young scientists
• Meet national science education standards
• Written/illustrated by award-winning authors/illustrators & vetted by an expert in the field
• Over 130 titles in print, meeting a wide range of kids' scientific interests

Books in this series support the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064452144
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/16/2005
Series:	Let's Read and Find Out Science Series: Level 2
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	136,423
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is the author of Energy Makes Things Happen and Pop!, an Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children, in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. She has a degree in chemistry from Smith College and lives with her husband and two children in Bristol, Tennessee.

Paul Meisel has illustrated many books for children, including Why Are the Ice Caps Melting?, Energy Makes Things Happen, and What Happens to Our Trash? in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. He lives in Newtown, Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

"This is an amazing compendium of 'kid friendly' explanations of Newton's Laws of Motion. It is a must purchase for elementary school libraries and classrooms. Colorful, fun, and cartoon-like illustrations pull the reader in, give a sense of playfulness, and illustrate the complex ideas contained in the pages. For the first time, I felt that the somewhat esoteric and intangible laws of how our universe behaves were reduced in ways that, without dumbing them down, made them accessible to a very young audience. The laws are stated, the explanations are  clear, and then fun and real examples are given to reinforce the concept. Highly recommended." — Library Media Connection (Pam WattsFlavin, Children's Librarian, Arlington, Massachusetts; Professor, Lesley University)

"With the clarity of language and logic of development that marks this reliable series, Bradley leads listeners (and older independent primary readers) through the principles of force, friction, and gravity that keep their world in predictable motion. Many an adult reader may feel less than confident with even elementary physics left far behind in high school, but Bradley walks everyone patiently through the tough bits. The multiethnic line-and-watercolor cast is chipper and active." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"A delightfully multicultural cast of characters demonstrate the concepts, while accessible text makes physics kids' play." — Yellow Brick Road Newsletter

From the Publisher

"This is an amazing compendium of 'kid friendly' explanations of Newton's Laws of Motion. It is a must purchase for elementary school libraries and classrooms. Colorful, fun, and cartoon-like illustrations pull the reader in, give a sense of playfulness, and illustrate the complex ideas contained in the pages. For the first time, I felt that the somewhat esoteric and intangible laws of how our universe behaves were reduced in ways that, without dumbing them down, made them accessible to a very young audience. The laws are stated, the explanations are  clear, and then fun and real examples are given to reinforce the concept. Highly recommended."

Library Media Connection (Pam WattsFlavin

"With the clarity of language and logic of development that marks this reliable series, Bradley leads listeners (and older independent primary readers) through the principles of force, friction, and gravity that keep their world in predictable motion. Many an adult reader may feel less than confident with even elementary physics left far behind in high school, but Bradley walks everyone patiently through the tough bits. The multiethnic line-and-watercolor cast is chipper and active."

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"A delightfully multicultural cast of characters demonstrate the concepts, while accessible text makes physics kids' play."

Yellow Brick Road Newsletter

"With the clarity of language and logic of development that marks this reliable series, Bradley leads listeners (and older independent primary readers) through the principles of force, friction, and gravity that keep their world in predictable motion. Many an adult reader may feel less than confident with even elementary physics left far behind in high school, but Bradley walks everyone patiently through the tough bits. The multiethnic line-and-watercolor cast is chipper and active."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Simple language and appealing illustrations combine to elucidate the tricky concept of force in this solid Let's-Read-and-Find-Out offering. Bradley's narrative builds in complexity from the simple to the sophisticated to discuss reciprocal forces, friction and gravity-including a nicely comprehensible explanation of the gravitational force that exists between any two objects, not just the earth's. The reader takes the position of experimenter with a direct second-person address, using universally kid-friendly examples to illustrate Newtonian physics: "If you push a toy car, it pushes back against you with the exact same force. . . . If you push the toy car, your force makes the car start moving. So if the toy car is also pushing you, why don't you start moving? Because you are so much heavier than a toy car." Meisel's happily multicultural cartoon cast of kids puts toy cars, real cars and big brothers through a variety of scenarios, in a visually harmonious accompaniment to the text. A concluding spread introduces an activity that will allow kids to test differing amounts of friction-using toy cars, of course. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews