SWITCHED ON, FLUSHED DOWN, TOSSED OUT

Do undercover agents deliver water to faucets and heat it in labs under every sink? Or sift trash for evidence? Are there secret passages to the center of the Earth for used bathwater? Spy-mad young Casey sets out to discover the truth to these and other theories about the domestic infrastructure, and so delivers a general but conscious-raising tour of the pipes, ducts and wires in a typical house, finding out along the way where electricity comes from, where garbage, recycling and sewage go and the function of fiberglass insulation. Romanek presents each topic in a formalized observation/theory/explanation format, broken into bite-sized paragraphs placed among MacEachern’s cartoon scenes and simple diagrams. Current enough to include flat screen PCs, fiber-optic cables and tantalizing hints about future “smart houses” (though, oddly, not cell phones), this provides an eye-opening look for younger children to the complex systems that warm, cool, shelter and entertain them at home. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 7-9)