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How It Works
Eye: How It Works
Celebrated author-illustrator and master explainer David Macaulay brings his unique voice and style to high-interest nonfiction books for newly independent readers.
How can you see that your shirt is on inside out? How do you see the soccer ball coming right at you? How do you know which players are on your team? It all starts with light--and with the amazing human eye. With his unique blend of informative text and illustration, David Macaulay shows how the anatomy of this extraordinary organ works to capture light and send signals to our brains. Joining Castle, Jet Plane, and Toilet, here's an illuminating nonfiction story about the senses for newly independent readers.
How can you see that your shirt is on inside out? How do you see the soccer ball coming right at you? How do you know which players are on your team? It all starts with light--and with the amazing human eye. With his unique blend of informative text and illustration, David Macaulay shows how the anatomy of this extraordinary organ works to capture light and send signals to our brains. Joining Castle, Jet Plane, and Toilet, here's an illuminating nonfiction story about the senses for newly independent readers.
32 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2013
115 people want to read
About the author
David Macaulay
111 books409 followersDavid Macaulay, born in 1946, was eleven when his parents moved from England to Bloomfield, New Jersey. He found himself having to adjust from an idyllic English childhood to life in a fast paced American city. During this time he began to draw seriously, and after graduating from high school he enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). After spending his fifth year at RISD in Rome on the European Honors Program, he received a bachelor’s degree in architecture and vowed never to practice. After working as an interior designer, a junior high school teacher, and a teacher at RISD, Macaulay began to experiment with creating books. He published his first book, Cathedral, in 1973. Following in this tradition, Macaulay created other books—including City, Castle, Pyramid, Mill, Underground, Unbuilding, and Mosque—that have provided the explanations of the how and the why in a way that is both accessible and entertaining. From the pyramids of Egypt to the skyscrapers of New York City, the human race’s great architectural and engineering accomplishments have been demystified through Macaulay's elaborate show-and-tells. Five of these titles have been made into popular PBS television programs.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 1, 2015
It was interesting because there were fun facts, it was all fun facts. I like fun facts.
August 30, 2017
It's always nice to read about eyeballs.
December 16, 2016
Eye How It Works was an outstanding READ!
Readers of all ages will enjoy learning how the eye works and learning how the eye is more than just an eye.
Author Macaulay did a fantastic job in explaining how everything in the eye works in relation to the eye and the brain. Eye How It Works was not only an informative read but a fun read and the illustrations made the story come to life!
Non-readers will enjoy looking at the illustrations while being read to and will probably wear out whomever is reading to them because they will probably want to be read Eye How It Works over-and-over again. Even the glossary was a highlight.
Readers of all ages will enjoy learning how the eye works and learning how the eye is more than just an eye.
Author Macaulay did a fantastic job in explaining how everything in the eye works in relation to the eye and the brain. Eye How It Works was not only an informative read but a fun read and the illustrations made the story come to life!
Non-readers will enjoy looking at the illustrations while being read to and will probably wear out whomever is reading to them because they will probably want to be read Eye How It Works over-and-over again. Even the glossary was a highlight.
October 5, 2017
I like how it takes the context of learning about the eye ball into a relatable scenario for kids like playing soccer. It helps to bring some life into what can be a bit heavier information for young readers. This is a great book to introduce the eye to elementary kids.
January 26, 2014
One of the newer trends in publishing for children seems to be the focus (no pun intended here) on the emergent reader and the simplifying of complex topics. Macauley has joined the ranks with "My Readers" with titles 'Castle', 'Jet Planes', and the apparently ever-popular topic, 'Toilet'. In my fifteen+ years of elementary school librarianship, I've had one request for toilets, and even that was for its predecessor, the water closet.
As for this book, it begins with a joke on the title page connecting the topic of soccer to the eyes. The diagrams are well-drawn and clearly labeled, and are cleverly set within the context of a soccer game. It explains why the girl does not see a ball coming at her in one instance, but is able to see it in another. I did like the way he explained, "As the signals rush in, brain cells look for a match between the new information and everything you've seen before." The accompanying diagram for this is a bit fuzzy, but the explanation makes total sense. I think this would be great for teachers to read aloud when introducing a lesson on the eye.
In the index, I found an error for page numbers under 'vitreous body' and most of the entries show pages 30 / 31, ("Words to Know") but those pages are not numbered in the book! Yes, one could count out that 30 come two pages after 28 (pg 29 is also not numbered), however, the emergent reader for whom this book is targeted is less likely to do that!
Somewhat uninspiring, unless you are a soccer fan. I would not have purchased this on its own but it came with our Junior Library Guild subscription.
As for this book, it begins with a joke on the title page connecting the topic of soccer to the eyes. The diagrams are well-drawn and clearly labeled, and are cleverly set within the context of a soccer game. It explains why the girl does not see a ball coming at her in one instance, but is able to see it in another. I did like the way he explained, "As the signals rush in, brain cells look for a match between the new information and everything you've seen before." The accompanying diagram for this is a bit fuzzy, but the explanation makes total sense. I think this would be great for teachers to read aloud when introducing a lesson on the eye.
In the index, I found an error for page numbers under 'vitreous body' and most of the entries show pages 30 / 31, ("Words to Know") but those pages are not numbered in the book! Yes, one could count out that 30 come two pages after 28 (pg 29 is also not numbered), however, the emergent reader for whom this book is targeted is less likely to do that!
Somewhat uninspiring, unless you are a soccer fan. I would not have purchased this on its own but it came with our Junior Library Guild subscription.
February 3, 2014
I liked this one better than Macaulay's Toilet: How It Works (see my review on that one). Still some gripes, though…
LABELS ARE PRETTY GOOD, BUT on page 7, the eye “socket” is not labeled and this is Macaulay’s intro to how the body protects the eye – “good thing each eye is protected by its own socket. “Fat” in the next sentence and “sclera” and “muscles” in the following sentences are labeled.
LAYOUT AND DESIGN MIGHT BE CONFUSING. On page 10, the text refers to the image on the right hand side of the two-page spread (p. 11) and then the image on the left hand side of the two page spread (on page 10). Minor issue.
“LET’S GO OVER THE GAME SO FAR” on page 18 – Macaulay starts to review what he has discussed about the parts of the eye and how the eyes process light, BUT in the middle of the “let’s go over the game so far,” he introduces completely new information. In his review, he doesn’t review the terms “cones and rods.”
LABELS ARE PRETTY GOOD, BUT on page 7, the eye “socket” is not labeled and this is Macaulay’s intro to how the body protects the eye – “good thing each eye is protected by its own socket. “Fat” in the next sentence and “sclera” and “muscles” in the following sentences are labeled.
LAYOUT AND DESIGN MIGHT BE CONFUSING. On page 10, the text refers to the image on the right hand side of the two-page spread (p. 11) and then the image on the left hand side of the two page spread (on page 10). Minor issue.
“LET’S GO OVER THE GAME SO FAR” on page 18 – Macaulay starts to review what he has discussed about the parts of the eye and how the eyes process light, BUT in the middle of the “let’s go over the game so far,” he introduces completely new information. In his review, he doesn’t review the terms “cones and rods.”
March 3, 2016
Macaulay is now doing a series of nonfiction books for about the grade 3-4 group. This one was on the eye and was fairly good. Of course, the illustrations are superb! The text is pretty good too, framed around a soccer game to make it a bit more relevant to kids. There was almost no effort given to the game which makes sense in a way since that wasn't what the book was about, but more could have been done to tie it in to the theme, I was disappointed in one section where a description of how glasses focus the light on the lens but did not include which one was long distance sight and which was short sighted vision. A few terms are tossed around such as 3-D that are only defined in the glossary. While I'm pleased the heroine was female, it would have been nice if more than one unnamed boy in the distance was a person of color. I'll probably check this series out some more over time. Hopefully some of these will improve on the various criticisms I've made
April 1, 2014
David Macaulay's brought his amazingly detailed illustrations and carefully cultivated science to a series of science books for early elementary readers.
Through the course of a soccer game, kids are shown how our eyes are constructed and how they process images and light. Really great introduction, would be fun to read along with a parent or in a classroom to help kids understand the concepts. Early elementary.
Through the course of a soccer game, kids are shown how our eyes are constructed and how they process images and light. Really great introduction, would be fun to read along with a parent or in a classroom to help kids understand the concepts. Early elementary.
November 26, 2013
You can't always believe a blurb, but I'm gonna say Macaulay has totally earned the "master explainer" title. I'm very impressed by his ability to take a complicated subject and break it down into understandable parts for young readers. The illustrations are great, too. I highly recommend this whole series!
January 8, 2017
Eye: How It Works is a straightforward book for young readers that reveals the components of the human eye in a clear, easy-to-understand manner. The text is not preachy. You can hear David Macauley's authoritative voice as you follow the narrative. A glossary, index and a list of supplementary reading resources complements completes the book. Recommended!
March 10, 2014
Eye – How It Works by David Macaulay - Love how this book is connected with playing soccer, quite appealing to reluctant readers. Beautiful illustrations in addition to thorough information on how the eye works. Terrific book, happy it is a reader now.
August 30, 2016
Hopping back and forth between the soccer game and how the eye of one player was perceiving it was a good idea but for this age & ability reader, it did not work - in my opinion.
September 6, 2016
I like how this book gave both information about the eye and also a story that connected to the eye and made it easy to connect to.
June 4, 2015
I liked that they were playing soccer as an example.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews