Forces Make Things Move, written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and illustrated by Paul Meisel, is from the “Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out” series (stage 2) which explores more challenging concepts for kids in the primary grades. The idea of invisible forces (such as friction and gravity) might be somewhat abstract to children, but since they experience them everyday, this book relates the concepts to them in an easier way to understand. The story begins by explaining how pushing and pulling is a force, and how an object’s weight affects force.
“It’s why a breeze can’t blow your family’s car off the driveway. Other things, like leaves and papers and hats, don’t weigh very much. Even tiny forces can make them fly around. A little wind makes enough forces to make them move. But if your big brother is lying on the living room couch, you’re going to have to push pretty hard to force him off” (p. 8-9).
The second part of learning about forces and movement, is discovering what makes things stop. Why won’t your toy car just keep going forever if it doesn’t hit anything to make it stop? This is the concept of FRICTION. The book continues to explain about how different surfaces, including air and space, have more or less friction.
The final section of the book describes gravity. Kids don’t often wonder why they walk on the ground instead of the ceiling, but Forces Make Things Move explains how big of a force the earth exerts on objects. “Gravity is such a part of our everyday lives that you probably don’t even think about it. If you spill a glass of milk, you expect it to spill down, onto the floor, rather than up, onto the ceiling” (p. 27).
Like any good science book, the end of the story includes a science experiment for kids. It is a very simple experiment about friction where the student uses a toy car and a ramp with different materials (sandpaper, towel, waxed paper, ect.) placed at the end. The student then decides which material has more friction and why.
Curriculum Connections
This book could be used as early as first grade to discuss force as pushes and pulls, using objects like toy cars (VA SOL 1.2). By grade four, the children could read and understand this book on their own, and it will support the learning of how forces cause changes in motion, as well as the investigation of friction as an opposing force (VA SOL 4.2).
Additional Resources
- This list is a good compilation of the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series (stage 2) books, and is also located on a “book club” blog which could be used as a great resource for any teacher who is looking for books to use in the classroom.
- Here is a website that is filled with a plethora of energy and motion experiments for kids of all ages!
- Science Online has been organized as a list of grade-specific links on force and motion computer activities and lesson plans.
Book: Forces Make Things Move
Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Illustrator: Paul Meisel
Publisher: Collins
Publication Date: August, 2005
Pages: 35
Grade Range: 1-4
ISBN: 006445214X