Oscar and the Bird: A Book About Electricity. Geoff Waring. 2009. Candlewick. 32 pages.
One day, Oscar saw a tractor standing in the field. He climbed up to look in the cab, when suddenly the windshield wiper started to move.Oscar is a kitten who is curious about electricity. Who better to teach him than a bird?!
Swish, swish!
"How did that happen?"
Oscar wondered.
Bird flew down from her branch.
"Electricity is making the wiper move," she said. "You must have pressed the switch by mistake."
"What's electricity?" Oscar asked.
"It's a kind of energy that people use to help things move, make sounds, light up, or heat up," Bird said.
Perhaps I've read too many Oscar books in a row. But this is the one book in the series that I have my doubts about. Maybe I find electricity a bit too tricky to explain in general. Though why I should be any more skeptical about a bird explaining electricity to a cat than a snail explaining how glass is made, I'm not quite sure. But I am. Why is Oscar behind the wheel of a tractor to begin with? Regardless, this one follows the same pattern as previous titles in the series. Oscar learns with a little help from a new friend how the world works.
The series is designed to present basic concepts to children about the world around them in an age-appropriate way.
© Becky Laney of Young Readers
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