CDs, Super Glue, and Salsa: How Everyday Products Are Made by Kathleen L. Whitman, Kathleen Witman, Kyung-Sun Lim, Neil Schlager (Editor), Kyung Lim Kalasky (Editor)

Product Details

Synopsis

Emphasizes current technology in providing information on the invention, manufacturing, and future uses of thirty common high-interest products.

Annotation

Emphasizes current technology in providing information on the invention, manufacturing, and future uses of thirty common high-interest products.

School Library Journal

Gr 5 UpIndentical in format to "Series 1" (UXL, 1994), these two volumes highlight 30 additional everyday products. Each entry includes a brief history of the item followed by a detailed, illustrated description of the manufacturing process. Some of the objects profiled include air bags, bungee cords, contact lenses, ketchup, pencils, soda bottles, and umbrellas. Concise and clearly written, the text makes technical information accessible to average readers. Fact boxes spotlight supplementary or interesting details. A brief list for further reading follows each entry, but students will be hard pressed to find many of these references in smaller libraries. Black-and-white line drawings illustrating the manufacturing processes are useful visual aids, but the black-and-white photographs of the products and people using them are quite dull and often downright fuzzy. An index to both "Series 1" and "Series 2" can be found in each volume. Similar information on the history of many of the items featured here is also available in the six-volume Eureka! (UXL, 1995), but the manufacturing details are what make CDs most useful. A worthwhile albeit drab addition.Alicia Eames, Brooklyn Public Library