What Happens When--?

but How does it work? Two books help encourage curiosity about the world around kids-and inside them, too. What Happens When...? by John Farndon, illus. by Steve Fricker and Mike Harnden, explains how Internet messages travel, how weather forecasters predict the weather and how flowers get to florists. Copious illustrations show the often elaborate chain of events behind everyday activities like flipping on a light switch or having a pizza delivered. While it's eerie to see what a girl's face looks like with half her skin removed, it's also quite informative. For The Human Body: An Amazing Inside Look at You! by Steve Parker, computers are used to combine photographs of real kids' bodies with anatomical models of skeletons, muscles and internal organs. Some of the roughly 240 photographs are taken with microscopes, and models of organs help provide an even more detailed inside view. The text explains not only how the body uses energy from food and defends itself from disease but, more specifically, how a hand grips a pen and a larynx makes sound.