Transformed: How everyday things are made

Slavin, Bill. Transformed: How everyday things are made. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2005

Award-winning picture-book illustrator Bill Slavin has brought his considerable talents to bear on a well-chosen and engaging topic – the hidden manufacturing process by which familiar objects are created. This over-sized book has everything that makes the new generation of information books for kids both popular and successful: The subject matter is both easy to relate to and fascinating; the pages are well-designed and appealing, the information is broken into small easy-to-read chunks that are clearly arranged, and the illustrations are both informative and humorous. The everyday objects are divided into categories, and each is presented on a separate two-page spread with consistent design elements. The page begins in the top left hand corner with a title and a brief but enthusiastic introduction to the object at hand that doesn’t focus on the manufacturing process but rather provides an amusing and engaging anecdote (often historical) to introduce the reader to the object itself. The page is dominated by an illustration of the stages of production, each of which is described by one or two sentences. These small blocks of text are spread out over the pages but numbered to suggest a clear sequence of reading, which is helpful considering they are not in any obvious visual order. There are also fun facts in sidebars, but not so many as to overwhelm the visual balance of the page or push the reader into information overload. Especially pleasing is the white background of the pages that allows the illustrations to shine, while paring down on the visual clutter that can make information books difficult to read. Slavin’s cartoon-like watercolour illustrations, which feature comically miniature people working on larger than life objects, bring a whimsical sense of humour to the project while managing to effortlessly convey a great deal of technical information (including cross-sections and magnifications). The information is supported by a table of contents, glossary, index and some suggestions for further study, as well as some notes on who helped research the information (but no actual sources). Part of the joy of this book is that the objects themselves are things that will be familiar to most readers, like baseballs or CDs or breakfast cereal, but the information about how they are made is likely to be new to children and adults alike. The information is clear and succinct, but not dumbed-down. The writing and illustrations both convey a sense of wonder and fascination, and will help foster an ongoing interest about the science of everyday objects that will extend far past the pages of the book. In the ever-increasingly popular world of information books for children, this is as good as it gets.

****/4

Looking at other reviews:

Gail Hamilton's review in CM also gives the book a similarily positive review, and focuses on some of the same aspects of the book such of the finessing of the balance between too much and too little information, the effective use of humour in the illustrations, and the additional resources. She uses several examples from the book which I liked since it gave me a better sense of the actual content of the book.

GraceAnne DeCandido's review (Booklist via Amazon.com) is also generally positive but points out some small historical inaccuracies I would not have been able to catch without fact-checking.