How Come?

Amazon.com
Why do people get goose bumps? Why don't fish and dolphins sleep? Why do ships and planes disappear in the Bermuda Triangle? How does camera film record pictures? What are you wondering about? Chances are, Kathy Wollard can find the answers. All the queries in this book of questions and answers were asked by real kids, who mailed and e-mailed them to Wollard's newspaper column, "How Come?" Organized into four loose categories, entitled "Turbulent Earth" (about deserts, oceans, icebergs, fog, volcanoes... anything to do with Earth), "Safari" (about animals), "Bodyworks" (about people), and "Factory Field Trip" (about things we make, such as bubble gum and diamonds), this original science reference book explains 125 mysteries of Planet Earth. A follow-up to the bestselling How Come?, Wollard's How Come? Planet Earth follows a similar format. Each two- or three-page chapter describes an earthly phenomenon in accurate, entertaining, easy-to-understand terms, with accompanying goofball cartoons by Debra Solomon. Grownups who have found themselves at a loss when children ask "Why are my fingers wrinkly after a bath?" or "How do jet airplanes fly?" will appreciate this collection of solutions as much as the curious young readers themselves. Browse at will, or read it cover to cover--answers are at hand! (Ages 8 and older) --Emilie Coulter


From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-Wollard follows up her popular How Come? (Workman, 1993) with answers to 125 more science questions submitted by children. Taking on topics as varied as volcanoes and chewing gum, warts and dust, she arranges the queries into broad categories ("Bodyworks," "Turbulent Earth," etc.), provides breezy but full answers ("Cholesterol, like fat, won't dissolve in blood-it just blobs up"), and tucks in occasional "Fast Fact" side notes. Solomon's comments that accompany the black-and-white cartoon art further lighten the informational load. Though Wollard covers all traces of her research, and is guilty of an occasional bobble-in the same paragraph she claims that the Earth's daily rotation slows by 1 to 3 milliseconds per century, lengthening a day by 30 seconds to 2 minutes every hundred years-she delivers plenty of specifics in a fresh, entertaining way that will hook both casual browsers and serious young seekers after truth.John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Gr. 5-9. Why is the sky blue? What color is water? Do parrots understand what they say? These are but a few of the questions, common and not so common, answered in a compilation drawn from Wollard's syndicated newspaper science column. Organized in a roughly topical fashion and crisscrossing the science spectrum from physics to astronomy to biology, the questions are answered, not only in considerable detail (each column was originally around 500 words) and understandable terms, but also with a concerted effort to keep the science light and related to young people's everyday experiences. Debra Solomon's zany black-and-white cartoon drawings are strictly for laughs. Browsers as well as the seriously science-minded will find much to intrigue them. Stephanie Zvirin


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For every kid who really wants to know, here is a stimulating, fact-filled, whimsically illustrated guide to the most frequently asked questions about our world, from "Why do stars twinkle?" to "What are hiccups?"--taken from Kathy Wollard's popular nationally-syndicated column, "How Come?"


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