TAKE IT APART

Kids’ drive to dismantle can drive adults to distraction.

“Some call you a Wrecking Ball. Some say Destroyer,” an omniscient narrator says. “But if they’d come closer, they’d see your gears spinning.” A tan-skinned, curly-haired, confident child unravels a red sweater and takes apart an alarm clock and a tricycle as a parent frowns. Dismantling so many objects gives our protagonist a stronger understanding of how things work—and inevitably nets the youngster “quite the supply of nuts, bolts, screws and springs,” which the little one later uses to fix a broken birdhouse and a mailbox. The protagonist’s teacher, a fellow “Take-It-Apart-er,” encourages her students to break down long words and big numbers into manageable bits. When the kids notice overflowing trash in the lunchroom, they decide to use the power of “take it apart”: by recycling and composting (more forms of taking things apart—at the cellular level, too). The late Howes’ jaunty rhymes provide a connecting thread to carry readers forward as she demonstrates how seemingly destructive impulses bely a creative spirit. Meanwhile, Vukovic’s expertly composed cartoon art, which has an enjoyably chaotic, DIY flavor, makes individual pieces look as attractive as the sum of their parts; pops of red and orange especially jump out. The supporting cast is diverse.

An enthusiastic endorsement of learning through disassembly.