That's How!

Niemann's (Subway) dialogue between a freckle-faced girl and a boy in a red T-shirt provides a carefree antidote to earnest books of diagrams explaining complex mechanisms. "How does a truck work?" the girl asks, her question hanging in an oversize word balloon above her head. "Hmmm..." says the boy. "Let me think." A cutaway view of the truck (contained within the boy's speech bubble on the next spread) shows a lion inside it, peddling a set of gears and chains. "That's how!" says the boy, index finger raised for emphasis. Further on, in the dark interior of a freighter, an octopus twirls the tail of a whale like a propeller to drive it through the water, while a steamroller is revealed to be powered by two bears rolling over and over as a parrot tickles them. The whole thing conjures up a wide-eyed instructional filmstrip from the '60s. It's fine parody; even the youngest readers will understand that Niemann's drawings are make-believe. Joyfully liberating modern machinery from the laws of physicswhile maintaining a dash of rationalitythis is another winner for Niemann. Ages 25. (May) Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

PreS-Gr 1--In this deceptively simple picture book, a boy entertains his friend with cleverly imagined ideas about how a number of vehicles work. When she asks about a truck, he responds, "Hmmm...let me think." A flip of the page shows a yellow lion pedaling a bicyclelike chain and gears inside a black truck. The scene takes place in a huge word bubble over the boy's head, along with the words, "That's how!" The girl responds, "Wow!" And that is pretty much the pattern of the entire book. The freighter is run by an octopus winding a whale's tale, the steamroller by a bird tickling two bears, and so forth, until the three final spreads. When the girl asks how a bicycle works, the boy thinks, and, in a reversal of roles, she says, "I know!" and she rides off on the bike: "That's how!" The mixed-media digital illustrations are saturated full-bleed spreads, the word bubbles lend a comic-strip feel, and the children's clothes change color to match each machine. Boy, girl, animals, and vehicles are all done in bold colors and have a cartoonish, childlike sensibility. The large trim size, popular topic, and brightly colored artwork will work well in storytimes, where children will happily chime in for the refrain with each page turn. A surefire hit to fill the constant demand for vehicle books.--Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.