Dale Simmons (Canadian Children’s Book News, Fall 2005 (Vol. 28, No. 4))
Finally a book that answers those baffling questions children ask. Just how do they get that slip of paper into a fortune cookie? What puts the “chew” in chewing gum? Where does the “whistle” in a whistle come from? Divided into five fascinating sections, readers will discover the truth behind toys in “Fun and Games”, everyday objects in “Around the House”, foods in “Soup to Nuts”, fabrics and clothing in “Cover-ups” and manufacturing materials in “Back to Basics”. Altogether, 69 familiar objects are presented. And… at last, the age-old secret of the ship in a bottle is revealed! A brief history of each product is followed by a step-by-step explanation of the manufacturing process. Delightful watercolour and ink illustrations accompany each step, showing miniature assembly line workers whose antics and comments provide much humour. The explanations are simple and straightforward with additional information and trivia provided in occasional side boxes. What reader wouldn’t be interested in finding out how everything from cola to jelly beans, dental floss to crayons, and aluminium foil to plastic wrap are made? Further information is provided at the end of the book in a glossary, as well as a list of books, encyclopaedias and videos. An index is also included. Grades 3 and up. 2005, Kids Can Press, (hc) $24.95. Ages 8 up.

Julie Schneggenburger (Children's Literature)
Did you ever wonder how aluminum foil is made or how jellybeans get their flavors? This book takes sixty-nine very common items from daily life and explains how each is made. Many of these products are produced in highly technical processes. However, through gorgeous pictures and step-by-step instructions, the authors make these transformations very easy to understand. Numerous scientific methods are explained as a product is changed from a raw material into a final product. This book would fit in well within an economics curriculum. The Industrial Revolution is discussed and praised for bringing about manufacturing. The impact of computers on factory work is discussed and assembly lines are illustrated. Using sequence words and breaking a process into numbered steps are both modeled very well. The pages will turn quickly as people of all ages enjoy the knowledge and informative pictures contained in this book. 2005, Kids Can Press Ltd, $24.95. Ages 6 to 12.

Gail Hamilton (CM Magazine, October 14, 2005 (Vol. XII, No. 4))
Every product used by people has its origins in nature. This delightful book traces the transformation of 69 everyday objects from the raw material state to finished product form by means of step-by-step explanations and accompanying diagrams. Following an introduction, there are five main sections: Fun and Games, describing sports, hobbies and toys, such as teddy bears and surfboards; Around the House, featuring common household items like dental floss, wax candles and pet food; Soup to Nuts, highlighting foods and beverages, such as jellybeans and cola; Cover-Ups, which focuses on clothing and footwear; and Back to Basics, describing the manufacture of glass, lumber, rubber and other products from materials found in nature. In each section are several chapters consisting of double-page spreads. An amusing or interesting anecdote, often about the origins or history of the object, introduces the topic. Numbered steps, with short paragraphs, explain the manufacturing process in vocabulary that is fairly easy for readers to comprehend. Readers will learn, for example, how CDs are made, how a model ship is placed in a bottle, and even how water gets from a lake to individual homes. In a book of this type, it is difficult to find the fine line between too much (and complicated) information and not enough, yet in Transformed, the authors are able to do this very successfully. Measurements are provided in both metric and Imperial form. Fact boxes, comprised of trivia, history and new terminology, add colorful commentary to each topic and break the monotony of yet another described process. Some examples are the fact that fortune cookies were actually invented by a Japanese American as thank you notes to guests of his San Francisco tea house, and that the peanut butter factory recycles its peanut shells to use as fuel to heat the boilers that run the shelling machines. With so much information about so many different objects, another challenge for the authors is how to keep the material fresh and interesting. Bill Slavin easily meets this challenge with his wonderful watercolor and ink illustrations that depict cartoon-like workmen in overalls and caps performing the various tasks in the manufacturing process. Whether they are balancing on planks inside a giant guitar or bouncing up and down on a batch of pink bubble gum mixture, these little guys and their humorous antics add to the reader's enjoyment of the book. A table of contents, arranged alphabetically within each of the five sections, an index and a brief list of resources for further study are also included. Lots of fun and most educational for the curious! Highly Recommended. Rating: **** /4. Grades 4-8. 2005, Kids Can Press, 160 pp., cloth, $24.95. Ages 9 to 13.

Bonnie Deigh (ForeWord Magazine, November/December 2005)
Where do things come from? This engaging reference provides scores of answers---not to the delicately classic question of babies, but rather the pedestrian mysteries of crayons, jellybeans, and sneakers. In his first publication as author (in collaboration with Jim Slavin), seasoned illustrator Bill Slavin, whose works grace the pages of the "Good Times Travel Agency" series, among other children's books, takes young readers step-by-step down the assembly line, through the refinery, across the factory, from raw material to finished product. A two-page spread traces the evolution of each one of a host of everyday objects: toys, foods, clothing, and miscellaneous household items like plastic wrap and band-aids. The final chapter tells the most fundamental tales of industry, describing how basic materials such as glass, iron, lumber, petroleum, and plastics are made. Information is presented in clearly numbered steps. Each segment of text is small enough to be unintimidating, but these are not fragmented "sound bites"; they are integrated parts of a process that the reader can easily follow. On the whole, Slavin's descriptions are satisfyingly clear: plastic dolls are made from molds; footballs and soccer balls are made by stitching strips of leather together. Pencils are constructed in sheets, cut apart after ropes of graphite have been sandwiched between layers of cedar. In a few places, an overabundance of undefined terminology becomes ponderous, but Slavin's clear, appealing drawings---complete with elfin workers, representing both real and metaphorical agents---make the point when the text leaves too much unexplained. The best descriptions are of primarily mechanical, rather than chemical, processes, such as the construction of pencils, mirrors, or the layers of material in a baseball. Some of the manufacturing steps that Slavin catalogues are comically humble: it's comforting to know, for example, that the latex that will become chewing gum is treated to remove bugs and bark first. The introduction to each process is an informative and often charming glimpse into the history of the item: "If you were a kid in ancient Greece," reads the introduction to the Toothpaste page, "you'd have rocks in your head every time you cleaned your teeth!" (The first toothpaste, Slavin informs his readers, was moistened powdered marble.) Transformed provides illuminating answers to the questions that children ask and that adults forget they've wondered about---remember the old ship in the bottle? Slavin does explain the age-old puzzle of how it got inside! (November) Kids Can Press, 160+ illustrations, 160 pages, Hardcover, $24.95. Ages 8 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 18))
Slavin boils down the processing or construction of 39 common products, from baseballs to kitty litter, into a few steps-each of which is illustrated with a cartoon scene featuring a crew of thumb-sized workers in overalls. Any child wondering why aluminum foil is shiny on one side and dull on the other, how the "pea" gets into the whistle or stripes into toothpaste, or what the probable ingredients of a "well-known cola" are, will find answers here-albeit drastically simplified ones. Closing with a look at 11 basic substances (plus one process, "Recycling"), this behind-the-scenes-at-the-factory tour isn't going to dislodge David Macaulay's New Way Things Work (1998) from the top of the heap of similar titles, but it makes good light fare for casual browsing. 2005, Kids Can, 160p, $24.95. Category: Nonfiction. Ages 9 to 11. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mark Westhoff (Library Media Connection, April/May 2006)
This book is a collection of two-page explanations on how everyday items are made. Students will find it amusing and useful, too. There are illustrations to show graphically how some things are made; some of the illustrations are for amusement only. Oversized drawings of these objects help the reader see greater detail. Examples of the more than 60 items explained are: ice cream, tea, ship in a bottle, baseballs, and pasta. The explanations are short and easily understandable. Each process is numbered, so it is easy for a student to follow the making of something from beginning to end no matter how detailed or complicated. The book contains a contents page, an index, a glossary, and other resources for more information. The publisher has included learning materials on its Web site, www.kidscanpress.com, which contain classroom activities to enhance the book. Recommended. 2005, Kids Can Press, 160pp., $24.95 hc. Ages 8 to 13.

Douglas Llewellyn (National Science Teachers Association (NSTA))
Do your students ever wonder how ice cream is made? Or where kitty litter comes from? Transformed: How Everyday Things are Made provides the answers to these questions and background about 69 common items. Using playful illustrations of miniature workers, the author takes the reader on an imaginary tour of the manufacturing of items from aluminum foil to wax candles. The illustrations simplify the manufacturing process into straightforward steps youngsters can readily understand. Teachers, however, need to be aware that the over-simplification may also lead to younger childrens' misconceptions about manufacturing and technology. (For example, the pint-sized worker using as carrot on a stick to make a hippopotamus drive the turns of a huge roller or a pair of workers jumping up and down on a mound of “cooked” gum to knead it into the right texture.) The detailed and intricate illustrations in Transformed accommodate simple explanations to complex processes. The National Science Education Standards suggest that “science and technology connect students to the designed world, offer them experiences in making models of useful things, and introduce them to laws of nature through their understanding of how technological objects and systems work” (pg. 135). To help accomplish this, Transformed will be a worthwhile addition to the elementary school library shelf. Grades 5-8. Keywords: Science & Technology. 2005, Kids Can Press, 160p, $24.95. Ages 10 to 14.

Mavis Holder (Resource Links, December 2005 (Vol. 11, No. 2))
Few of us make the many items that we use everyday in our homes, and this book is an upbeat and light hearted journey through the factories that result in 58 familiar household products. In double page spreads, we see how everything from peanut butter to fortune cookies, and dental floss to surf boards are made commercially. The 58 objects are separated into 4 sections; things to eat; things to wear; things from around the house and things to play with. The fact that the opening section is about toys and sports equipment sets the tone for this entertaining look at the industrial processes behind many of our purchases. Although there are some similarities in format and style to David Macaulay’s The Way Things Work, I believe his intent was the teaching of scientific concepts, while this book is a broader look at the stages used in mass producing specific items for the shopping basket. The manufacturing industries are always updating and refining the way that products are made, but this book shows the stages that different raw materials go through to be converted into usable products. The clearly numbered, diagrammatic drawings dwarf the human figures that are facilitating each process. Each spread is introduced by a paragraph about the history of the item, such as the housewife who used fuller’s earth instead of sand for cat litter in 1948. The fifth section of the book makes it more than just a collection of “how things are made”. It outlines the production from raw material to commodity of eleven basic resources including petroleum, rubber, glass, cement and lumber and links the items in the previous sections to the resource from which they are manufactured. Also in this section is a brief overview of recycling these non renewable, and therefore dwindling, resources. The book also contains a good table of contents, index, glossary and bibliography of print and media items, but recommends that the reader do a web search of their own. This will be a book that is dipped into again and again and each time the illustrations or the fact boxes will give new and additional information. Although the style and format suggest that this book is a browser, the content is well indexed so that it will have use in early research on manufactured goods. Category: Non-Fiction Grades K-6. Thematic Links: Resources and Manufacturing; Conservation; Home Economics. Resource Links Rating: E (Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!), Gr. 4-7. 2005, Kids Can Press, 160p. Illus., Hdbk. 24.95. Ages 9 to 13.

Deborah Stevenson, Associate Editor (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 2005 (Vol. 59, No. 4))
These days our lives are thick with manufactured items and substances, and we’re farther away than ever from the processes that create them. Slavin attempts to redress that distance with this broad gallery of creation, which describes the manufacture of over sixty products in the categories of “Fun and Games” (baseballs, CDs, teddy bears), “Around the House” (cat litter, pencils, stick-on bandages), “Soup to Nuts” (jellybeans, ketchup, tap water), “Cover-Ups” (blue jeans, polyester, running shoes), and “Back to Basics” (glass, paper, petroleum). Each topic receives a double-page spread that, after an introductory paragraph, turns to an annotated diagram of the process, usually set off by a sidebar with trivia tidbit. It’s a promising idea, focusing on products where Macaulay’s The Way Things Work (BCCB 1/89) focuses more on processes and engineering, and the sheer scope of the material broadens the interest level, making this a browsable volume for all manner of reading levels. The book also includes some genuinely diverting tidbits, such as the information that some kitty litter factories have in-house cats for testing purposes and that some peanut-butter factories power themselves by burning the peanut hulls cast aside by the process. Unfortunately, the illustrations succumb to a whimsy that sometimes adds fun but more often obscures aspects of the process (it’s especially difficult to guess at scale in light of the fanciful cast of workers, who seem to range from an inch or so high to thumb-size); the numbered steps in the diagram are arranged with a confusing randomness reminiscent of dates on advent calendars. The text is also variable in its explanation of terms, and it’s never clear why some technical words appear in quotation marks (there’s no correlation to appearance in the glossary). It’s still intriguing to see inside so many mysterious processes, however, and this is an enticing collection to sample. A glossary, an index, and a list of books for further reading are included. Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2005, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2005, Kids Can, 160p, $24.95. Grades 4-7.