Phones Keep Us Connected

By Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and Kasia Nowowiejska

Read and find out about the science, technology, and history of how phones work in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book.

"A well-explained, informative presentation on the telephone’s historical development as well as how cell phones work. Featuring a diverse crew of characters, the upbeat digital illustrations are attractive and, equally important, very helpful in showing hard-to-visualize concepts." (Booklist starred review)

Phones Keep Us Connected includes a glossary, a find out more section with an activity about building a string telephone, and an infographic about the history of the phone.

Questions addressed in this book include:

• How was the phone invented?
• How has it changed?
• How can a phone carry your voice across oceans?

Read and find out in the proven winner Phones Keep Us Connected!

This is a Level 2 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades. The 100+ titles in this leading nonfiction series are:

• hands-on and visual
• acclaimed and trusted
• great for classrooms

Top 10 reasons to love LRFOs:

• Entertain and educate at the same time
• Have appealing, child-centered topics
• Developmentally appropriate for emerging readers
• Focused; answering questions instead of using survey approach
• Employ engaging picture book quality illustrations
• Use simple charts and graphics to improve visual literacy skills
• Feature hands-on activities to engage young scientists
• Meet national science education standards
• Written/illustrated by award-winning authors/illustrators & vetted by an expert in the field
• Over 130 titles in print, meeting a wide range of kids' scientific interests

Books in this series support the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062657336

Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld is the award-winning author of more than ninety books for children. She has written several books in the Let’s Read And Find Out Science series, including: WHAT LIVES IN A SHELL?, an NSTA/CBC “Outstanding Science Trade Book” and winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s “Best Children’s Book” award; WHAT IS THE WORLD MADE OF?, a Children’s Book of the Month Club Main Selection; WHAT’S ALIVE?, also named an AAAS “Best Children’s Book”; HOW MOUNTAINS ARE MADE, an NSTA/CBC “Outstanding Science Trade Book,” DINOSAUR TRACKS, "a great choice for even the most discriminating dinophiles" (School Library Journal); and DINOSAURS BIG AND SMALL, winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio “Best Book Award” Kathleen was a children’s book editor for over ten years before becoming a full-time writer. When she is not reading, researching, writing, or editing she loves to spend her free time exploring, doing fieldwork, and preparing and curating fossils for her local natural history museums. She lives in Berkeley, CA.

Book preview

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This nonfiction title explains how telephones work while giving a brief history of their invention, starting with the telegraph and moving forward to present-day cell phones. It is rather technical at times, although the author does try to keep the language fairly simple. Illustrations alternate between colorful cheery scenes of people communicating and scientific diagrams with parts labeled. The former feature a number of children of different races and abilities. Backmatter includes a glossary and a timeline. There are also suggestions for hands-on experiments readers can try on their own. This is a decent choice for classroom or school libraries.