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How Machines Work
Award-winning artist David Macaulay introduces readers to his hilarious new creations, Sloth and Sengi, in How Machines Work: Zoo Break!
Complete with a unique jacket with an interactive compound machine incorporating several of the simple mechanisms featured in the book, How Machines Work: Zoo Break! uses models and illustrations to demonstrate the technology of six simple machines: levers, pulleys, screws, inclined planes, wedges, and wheels.
Follow the mad antics of Sloth and his sidekick Sengi as they try to find their way out of the zoo with the help of machines. Their efforts are brought to life through novelty elements including pop-ups, pull-outs, and lift-the-flaps, allowing readers to explore in greater depth how and why machines work. Spreads highlight the use of simple machines in everyday objects, such as scissors and clocks, mixers and whisks, bikes and brakes, while the story contains clear and simple text to engage the reader.
Complete with a unique jacket with an interactive compound machine incorporating several of the simple mechanisms featured in the book, How Machines Work: Zoo Break! uses models and illustrations to demonstrate the technology of six simple machines: levers, pulleys, screws, inclined planes, wedges, and wheels.
Follow the mad antics of Sloth and his sidekick Sengi as they try to find their way out of the zoo with the help of machines. Their efforts are brought to life through novelty elements including pop-ups, pull-outs, and lift-the-flaps, allowing readers to explore in greater depth how and why machines work. Spreads highlight the use of simple machines in everyday objects, such as scissors and clocks, mixers and whisks, bikes and brakes, while the story contains clear and simple text to engage the reader.
Hardcover
First published October 6, 2015
1 person is currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
David Macaulay
111 books403 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 22, 2019
I’m a sucker for mechanical books. They fascinate me. This well-crafted book illustrates simple machines as it tells a humorous story of animals trying to figure out a way to escape from the zoo via the use of levers, fulcrum, inclined planes, and all kinds of aspects of simple machines. I can’t wait until my great-grandson is old enough to get his hands on this book!
October 4, 2017
This enlarged picture book is very STEM focused featuring two animals trying everything to break out of their enclosure. Filled with flaps and levers the book is interactive and told with many small bubbles. elementary and up.
November 15, 2021
This is a fun interactive book that allows the reader to experience the machines as they help the animals escape from the zoo. I usually don't like interactive books, but this one was fun.
November 10, 2017
Page 8-9 is my son's very favorite!!! We love how interactive this book is... every page pops up or slides and shows how the simple machines work! Very cool, only drawback is we cannot leave the house without this and a couple specific others. it's not a little book...
January 4, 2018
I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars, so I guess it makes it 3.5, but I'm rounding down anyway.
The premise of the book is stupid, but very funny; the kind of thing that even small kids know is impossible, which makes that much more fun. So we're following attempts of the Sloth and his friend to break free from a zoo. Each of the attempts is more or less well planned, thought trough in respect of technology, and entertaining.
The text is waaay too detailed for my taste. If a kid needs that much detail, a children's book is not a sourse to look up. And if a kid doesn't want those details, why they are there? The text is boring, over-the-head, going at lenghts about things nobody in our family is interested in. If the idea was to develop that technical part of kid's brain, then it failed. To do that you really need to wrap complicated ideas in simple (but not oversimplified of course) and engaging words. This text? It was like reading a manual. I resorted to telling the story in my own words, ignoring the text. Or was it there to educate the parents, so they can spin a tale knowing what's going on?
The props are ingenious! We spent a lot of time catapulting the heroes over the wall. There is only one problem with them - too easy to break. The book won't survive in a library for very long, which is very sad. It wouldn't survive for long even as a house book. But hey, it's a lot of fun at least.
The premise of the book is stupid, but very funny; the kind of thing that even small kids know is impossible, which makes that much more fun. So we're following attempts of the Sloth and his friend to break free from a zoo. Each of the attempts is more or less well planned, thought trough in respect of technology, and entertaining.
The text is waaay too detailed for my taste. If a kid needs that much detail, a children's book is not a sourse to look up. And if a kid doesn't want those details, why they are there? The text is boring, over-the-head, going at lenghts about things nobody in our family is interested in. If the idea was to develop that technical part of kid's brain, then it failed. To do that you really need to wrap complicated ideas in simple (but not oversimplified of course) and engaging words. This text? It was like reading a manual. I resorted to telling the story in my own words, ignoring the text. Or was it there to educate the parents, so they can spin a tale knowing what's going on?
The props are ingenious! We spent a lot of time catapulting the heroes over the wall. There is only one problem with them - too easy to break. The book won't survive in a library for very long, which is very sad. It wouldn't survive for long even as a house book. But hey, it's a lot of fun at least.
November 7, 2016
•No awards
•Grade level 3
•Two pals, Sloth and Sengi want to break out of the zoo; it’s too boring for them. Around them they see all different machines and learn how they work. They attempt to use the ideas of these machines to come up with a sure fire way of escaping the zoo, no matter how many tries it takes!
•This book makes learning engineering and physics very easy for young children. It has pull tabs and things to flip to help explain how each of these machines work. It also has a story with Sloth and Sengi which makes it unique from most other types of informational texts.
5) This book can be used to help explain simple mechanics. At this age they are starting to understand science so this book can help them understand ramps and levers and such. Another use may be to help those who learn more through kinesthetic learning. Since this book offers pull tabs and movable parts this book can help those who need to do something with their hands.
•Grade level 3
•Two pals, Sloth and Sengi want to break out of the zoo; it’s too boring for them. Around them they see all different machines and learn how they work. They attempt to use the ideas of these machines to come up with a sure fire way of escaping the zoo, no matter how many tries it takes!
•This book makes learning engineering and physics very easy for young children. It has pull tabs and things to flip to help explain how each of these machines work. It also has a story with Sloth and Sengi which makes it unique from most other types of informational texts.
5) This book can be used to help explain simple mechanics. At this age they are starting to understand science so this book can help them understand ramps and levers and such. Another use may be to help those who learn more through kinesthetic learning. Since this book offers pull tabs and movable parts this book can help those who need to do something with their hands.
March 16, 2016
basic concepts of physics illustrated with moving parts and a ridiculous serious of zoo escape plans implemented by a sloth and an elephant shrew (sengi). My son and I loved the interactive pieces and the silly storyline, plus the explanations, but the terminology of first, second, etc order levers, etc. was too confusing for both of us. I guess this is the new way of explaining things, but it also got us confused in The New Way Things Work.
Still, a fun, giggly interactive read. My son's father disapproves of it for bedtime on principal because it's so interactive. :)
Still, a fun, giggly interactive read. My son's father disapproves of it for bedtime on principal because it's so interactive. :)
February 15, 2016
I definitely needed to read this one twice. It wasn't the type of book that was meant for me to be reading when I'm tired, because it addresses a part of my brain that I'm not really used to using. I definitely asked for help on how the systems work, because I was trying to understand the book. I think kids might figure it out more readily than I would, and most likely they would be building models to figure it out, rather than trying to visualize in their head. The idea of a sloth escaping was continually funny to me (so much effort!).
October 19, 2016
This is a clever and engaging way to explore mechanics through the adventures of a sloth and rodent as they try to escape the zoo. The approach didn't quite work for me and elements of the book felt flimsy and easily breakable (don't think it would last long in a school setting) which is a pity because it's Macaulay and his writing and explanations are always spot on.
February 25, 2016
Awesome book...but what's with the Zoo Break!?
There's sloths pulling ropes, chopping wood, digging ditches, and dancing around all over the place! Don't they know sloths sleep like 22 hrs a day so the chances of them doing anything are quite slim!
There's sloths pulling ropes, chopping wood, digging ditches, and dancing around all over the place! Don't they know sloths sleep like 22 hrs a day so the chances of them doing anything are quite slim!
April 9, 2016
This book is really fun! What a great way to teach kids about simple machines. Unfortunately its not going to last very long at the library so if you want to read it I would get it fast.
December 27, 2015
So much fun for kids.
Want to read
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May 22, 2016
2-4. Interesting take on the author's previous How Things Work books. Wouldn't buy it for my library because it will NOT last circulation. But cool to look at from someone else's collection.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews