"Turn on the faucet, and clean water comes out. Take a drink from the refrigerator, and it's cool and fresh. These things seem like magic t they're not. So how do they happen?" So begins Butterworth's latest nonfiction offering, which opens with a charming cross section of a house packed with cheerful cartoon characters (including house pets), each demonstrating the many uses of energy. The following page has a grayed-out version of the same house, only this time layered bold color-coded lines that signify water, electrical, and natural gas routes. Butterworth's concise and straightforward text uses a step-by-step approach to explain the sources of each of these forms of energy r example, how natural gas travels from underground rocks, to chemical plants, to tanks, to your home. Gaggiotti's lively, retro-style illustrations aptly complement Butterworth's educational narrative. The book closes with examples of ways kids can actively do their part to save energy. An ideal book for inquisitive minds.

Farmer Brown and the barn animals (Click, Clack, Moo etc.) are invited to visit the local elementary school. He quells the animals' noisy enthusiasm with stern warnings: there will be none of that boisterousness. But when the recess bell rings, chaos ensues, and humans and animals alike happily run amok. The text's effective sound effects and repetition combine with expressive, relaxed-line watercolors for a funny and exuberant "quack"-to-school adventure.