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THE BOOK OF ... HOW? by Ray Bryant

THE BOOK OF ... HOW?

50 Questions and All the Answers

illustrated by Ray Bryant

Pub Date: April 1st, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6398-7
Publisher: Kingfisher

Designed for short attention spans and impulse buys, this sourceless, authorless (Jo Connor is listed on the copyright page as originator of the concept) Q&A poses and answers a variety of science queries in no discernible order (“How did ancient Egyptians preserve their dead? How quickly can you sail around the world? How hot is the Sun?”), adding a tangential fact-ish aside to each. Bryant’s stylish cartoon illustrations, mostly colored in green and yellow, incorporate the text in bubbles and boxes and feature a rotund little Pikachu-like creature, popeyed humanoids and the occasional animal falling, floating, bounding by or posing in a comical way. The answers range from general to simplistic (“How do things appear on TV?” rates a mention of broadcast TV only, accompanied by an image of a ’60s-style console) to outright wrong—no, astronauts don’t float in space because Earth’s gravity is too weak, as claimed in the companion Book of...Why? (ISBN: 978-0-7534-6396-3). A closing glossary and pop quiz don’t make these empty calories any more intellectually nourishing. (Informational pop tarts. 8-11)