Great, detailed "how this one thing works" books for kids

September 21, 2015 8:41 PM

My 3.5 year old nephew adores Brian Floca's book Locomotive. I know he enjoys trains, but I'm curious if he might like books on other, non-transportation subjects, but still super detailed about parts, what they're for, and how they work. For example, has anyone made a similarly detailed children's book about how sewing machines work? Or elevators? Or computers?
posted by ocherdraco to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

It's for ages 9 and up, but your nephew might enjoy The Way Things Work by David Macaulay. And now that I read your question again you're looking for books about one thing. Sorry.
posted by Rob Rockets at 8:53 PM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I loved many of David Macaulay's books at around that age - the publisher lists then as ages 10-14 but I was enjoying books like Castle and Underground by 4 years old, it just required a parent to read them to me and explain some of the details.

http://hmhbooks.com/davidmacaulay/books.html
posted by Candleman at 9:05 PM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yep. Both because he seems more into books about how one thing works, and because I don't want to give something so long that his parents would be overly burdened.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:07 PM on September 21, 2015

Response by poster: it just required a parent to read them to me and explain some of the details.

This is a great description of what my nephew is like, too.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:08 PM on September 21, 2015

My kids loved the Lets Read and Find Out series. They have a lot more on nature topics than the kind of thing you're looking for, but in the list I see topics like computers and robots as well. The books vary in quality, but the best of them give detailed and accurate information—I remember Wiggling Worms at Work included information on worm reproduction, for instance.

Scott MacNeill has two "how things work" coloring books. Not single-topic, but might do.

And finally, How Machines Work: The Interactive Guide to Simple Machines is pretty cool.

I'll be back if I think of any more.
posted by not that girl at 9:52 PM on September 21, 2015

From the Amazon link, I see that How Machines Work is part of a cool-looking series.
posted by not that girl at 9:54 PM on September 21, 2015

I will say Macaulay's books like Castle, Cathedral, City and Pyramid are about "one thing" for some definitions of "one thing" and may fit the bill. I absolutely loved them as a kid. Which was admittedly a long time ago.
posted by mark k at 10:39 PM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I got my niece

Why?: The Best Ever Question and Answer Book about Nature, Science and the World around You
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:48 PM on September 21, 2015

Upon re-reading, I see this doesn't quite fit the criteria, but I'm leaving it anyway.

Richard Scarry's "What do People Do All Day?" is ostensibly about occupations, but is full of fun cutaway drawings of how the machinery of the world around us works.
posted by quinndexter at 11:03 PM on September 21, 2015

Usborne books have incredibly detailed drawings and a million flaps... They are *so cool*. I bought one of the smaller books (Peep inside Night) for my 1 yr old and he loves it. The first one that popped up in my Amazon search is Peep Inside: How Things Work.
posted by jrobin276 at 2:25 AM on September 22, 2015

I note they also have See Inside Things that Go, and See Inside Trains (as well as a zillion other mostly science related titles). I was home late from work because I spent too long in a bookstore playing with these...
posted by jrobin276 at 2:29 AM on September 22, 2015

Not a machine, but Next Stop, Grand Central goes into immense, fun detail about how Grand Central Station works over 24 hours
posted by Mchelly at 4:26 AM on September 22, 2015

Floca has two other books with a similar feel, in case you didn't already see them: Lightship, and Moonshot. The first is about the day-to-day workings of a contemporary lightship; the second is about the minutia on board Apollo 11. Floca is amazing! He also illustrated a wonderful book about the making of Appalachian Spring called Ballet for Martha: it has lots of details about the working lives of artists, and how creative and collaborative processes work.

If your kiddo likes reading about animals, too, I just picked up a really cute book called How to Swallow a Pig by Steve Jenkins. It's got a bunch of two-page spreads of how-to advice from the animal kingdom with lots of neat details about animal behavior and bodies and how they work.

Um, this may be a weird suggestion, by my son's favorite how stuff works book at the moment is What Makes a Baby by Cory Silverberg, with lots of age-appropriate details about the human body and how babies are made. It's amazing, but obviously you'd want to run that by his parents first.
posted by libraritarian at 6:31 AM on September 22, 2015

I came here to suggest The Way Things Work, but others have beaten me to it. I'll second (third? fourth?) it. I had it as a kid, and even as someone who wasn't particularly interested in science or engineering, I really enjoyed it. I saw it on a shelf the last time I visited my mom and it brought back great memories.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:40 AM on September 22, 2015

As a little kid I loved Stephen Biesty's Incredible Cross-Sections. There were a whole series, some more specific than others. You don't even need to know how to read to enjoy pouring over the pictures.

I would also totally recommend Macaulay.
posted by Wretch729 at 11:49 AM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone!
posted by ocherdraco at 7:11 PM on September 22, 2015