TRANSFORMED

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. (Nonfiction. 9-11)