The series debuted in July 2019 with a book on machines and electricity - coming in 2020 are titles on sound and light. I'm looking at the machines title today. The framing story starts with a red-headed kid wandering outside and looking at the construction site next door... when a weird giant house on rockets makes a crash landing! It's the Museum of Inventionology and this group of wacky scientists are ready to explore! They make their way into the construction site (not listening to warnings from the kid that they shouldn't be in there!) and start discovering inventions like jackhammers, dump trucks, cranes, and even toilets! Each one is accompanied by their hilarious and goofy suggestions of what it's for and the kid's careful explanations of what the invention is really for and how it works. Finally, leaving a dramatic mess, they take off with their exhibits, but they haven't done a really good job of listening, as readers can see in the picture of their museum at the end!
Briggs' light-hearted cartoons not only show clear explanations of how simple (and complex) machines work, they will also give kids a serious case of the giggles, especially when the Invention Hunters imagine different uses for the toilet! The red-headed kid is never given a gender and the adults are shown with a variety of body types and skin colors. Although Briggs' has his own unique style, this reminded me a lot of Eaton's Truth About... series, which combines humor and nonfiction to great effect.
Verdict: Give these to young readers who want to know how and why things work, to fans of McElligott's Mad Scientist Academy, and to everybody who loves science and a good laugh. Buy extra copies and use them in book clubs! Recommend them to teachers! They are just that awesome!
ISBN: 9780316436793; Published July 2019 by Little Brown and Co.; Borrowed from another library in my consortium (just until I order our own!)
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