In this meticulously written entry in the new Check it Out! series, Twist pares the complicated science behind light and sound to essentials that children can grasp. The left-hand page of each topical spread offers two or three brief facts, followed by a What do you think? feature that invites children to synthesize what they have learned and extend it one more step: Hitting a drum gently makes a quiet sound. What will happen if you hit the drum harder? On both pages, photos and annotated stick-figure cartoons further crystallize the information. The glossary stumbles in defining adjectives as if they were nouns in two places, and though one must admire the attempt to zing up the topic by photo-shopping adorable dogs and cats into the pictures, the result is awkward and incongruous. Still, the book's limited vocabulary and combination of traditional, visual, and participatory techniques will provide sturdy support for early-elementary science curricula.

These books introduce such concepts as push and pull, light and sound, electrical energy and battery power. Bright photos (some oddly cropped) of kids and relevant objects along with a few diagrams enliven the pages. The texts are intentionally low-level; however, the superficiality of treatment often raises more questions than it answers, and the volumes' organization is desultory. Glos., ind.