Wired by Anastasia Suen, Paul Carrick (Illustrator), Paul Carrick (Illustrator)

Steven EngelfriedCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

Gr 2-4
This introduction to electricity traces the path of electrons from the power station to electronic devices used in the home. A series of spreads with a few paragraphs of text describes each stage along the way. This progression works well, covering the physical implements and machines as well as general scientific concepts. The important role of transformers, for example, emerges in a logical way, reinforcing the key concept that electricity is an energy that can be controlled and guided. Acrylic mixed-media illustrations are informative, with clear labels to identify specific components. The uncrowded layout and three-dimensional look are especially effective. Each spread leads neatly into the next one, so the visual flow is uninterrupted. Readers see wires reaching the electric meter, then a page turn shows that meter close up, while the subsequent spread reveals the inside wires moving out from the meter. A few descriptions are oversimplified, but a glossary fills in needed details. Joanna Cole's The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip (Scholastic, 1997) and Barbara Seuling's Flick a Switch (Holiday House, 2003) cover more ground, and Molly Bang's My Light (Scholastic, 2004) is more visually dazzling, but this title succeeds with its carefully focused approach. By sticking consistently to the topic of how electricity reaches the home without trying to cover history, trivia, or more complex science, the fundamental information comes through in an appealing way that kids can fully understand.

Kirkus Reviews

Raising the awareness of any reader who's ever switched on a light or wondered what those wires above the street are, Suen traces the long "dance" of electrons from a (water-driven) generator to a home's plugs, lamps and computer screens. Linked by lines of a poem-"Humming, thrumming, / power's coming / in the wires / in the wires / from big to small / to power it all"-her commentary offers simple but specific descriptions of how, for instance, step-up and step-down transformers work, what ground wires and circuit breakers do and even what's behind those ubiquitous switch plates. With help from occasional discreet labels, Carrick's realistic, low-relief collages follow wires over transmission towers and wooden poles, down through electric meters and cutaway walls. Suen closes with a list of safety tips and, for children curious about topics she doesn't cover, such as the differences between volts and amps, or AC and DC, a handful of print and online resources. Audiences who find Joanna Cole's Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip, illus by Bruce Degen (1997), too busy to absorb may come away from this more linear approach with a clearer idea of what powers their everyday infrastructure. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)

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