How Things Work: Great STEM Books for 8-12 Year Olds

First up is the wonderful, encyclopaedic The Way Things Work by David Macaulay. It is full of hand-drawn illustrations and features a mammoth as a recurring motif, adding humour to all the explanations. (As an example, the chapter on friction features an unwilling mammoth having a bath.) There are 400 pages in six main parts, each clearly subdivided: ‘The mechanics of movement’, ‘Harnessing the elements’, ‘Working with waves’, ‘Electricity and automation’, ‘The digital domain’ and ‘The invention of machines’. There is also a glossary of technical terms.

Macaulay is an award-winning author and illustrator who spent years researching this book, and co-author Ardley was a prolific science writer as well as a musician and composer. This book was first published in 1988 and has been updated.

The publisher, Dorling Kindersley, specialises in illustrated reference books. For kids specifically interested in technology, they also have a title called How Technology Works: The Facts Visually Explained. It has a bit more of a textbook feel, with sections on different types of technology: power, transportation, materials and construction, technology in the home, sound and vision, computer, communications, farming & food, and medical. It is part of a STEM book series on how things work, at around 250 pages. It is quite text heavy and probably best suited for 11-12 year olds who are interested in technology.

How Was That Built? The Stories Behind Awesome Structures is an attractive 80-page book for 8-12 year olds. The author is a structural engineer who has also written for adults and done a podcast mini-series. This book was shortlisted for the 2022 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize. Alan Wilson, chair of the judging panel, described it as “inspirational”, explaining that this is the next progression from sandcastles: “you can read this book and understand why your sandcastle falls down or how to make it stronger”. How Was That Built? looks at construction examples in history and also has a chapter on building into the future, as well as building in particularly challenging environments.

For more about construction, Ancient Wonders by Iris Volant and Avalon Nuovo is not primarily a book about how things work, but is nevertheless an excellent information book for 8-12 year olds on ancient technology. Readers learn about how the builders of ancient structures ingeniously manoeuvred massive slabs of stone using levers, pulleys and cranes, and how bronze sculptures were cast. It is an excellent book to introduce engineering to kids who are more interested in history than in STEM subjects, and an attractive book for adults to leaf through as well.

Under Earth, Under Water is a large format book that I have seen children get totally absorbed in. It can be read from either end; you flip the book when you get to the Earth’s core. Starting at the Earth end, readers learn all about what goes on underground, from the small scale (how an anthill works) via mining projects to the massive (how geysers get their boiling water). From the water end of the book, readers learn about the underwater world, including underwater pressure and how diving, submarines and underwater research vessels work. This book contains a huge amount of illustration and lots of intriguing facts about parts of the world that we don’t often see. It is probably best suited for slightly younger middle grade readers, around ages 7-11. 108 pages.

For a more in-depth look at engineering and technology relating to our most precious resource, The Wonderful World of Water: From Dams to Deserts is a richly illustrated and highly informative book about water from every possible angle. Written by two Belgian academics, it covers topics including the water cycle, how water purification works, drinking water and sewage systems, and dams and reservoirs. 60 pages.

Sky High! This book made our best books for kids of 2023. The text is very informative but prominence is given to the comic-like style illustrations. The large format allows plenty of room for the drawings effectively to show how things work. Sky High! Is mainly a history of aviation and different types of aircraft, but there is also a lot of content about how flight actually works.

It starts from basics such as how a whirlybird or helicopter seed spins, how the dandelion fruit acts like a tiny parachute that gets pulled up in tiny eddies of air. Then we get to how hot air makes a balloon rise and how the wing of a plane glider works. Readers see how control of the rudder, elevators and ailerons change the way the air flows, and learn how different engines (jet, turbofan, rocket) work in simple terms. Concepts such as sound waves and radio are also introduced. And we learn about air currents, how temperature affects function — all the different factors involved in designing a plane. This is a fantastic book for children age 8-13 who are interested in how aviation works.

Inventors: Incredible Stories of the World’s Most Ingenious Inventions written by multi-award winning scientist Lord Robert Winston, was shortlisted for the 2021 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize. It is a richly illustrated book with dozens of stories of inspiring inventors, from Archimedes to contemporary ones such as Deepika Kurup, who in 2012 — at the age of 14 — won a science competition with a cheap solar-powered water purifier.

In getting to know the stories of these curious and resourceful people, young readers also learn about their inventions, how they work, and the process of designing and manufacturing them. Many — such as Leonardo da Vinci — are world-famous, but others are relatively unknown. Most of the inventions are objects but some are abstract, such as the idea of dividing the world into time zones. This fun book is divided into four main sections: Making things go!, Caring for people, Helping at home, and Bang! Whizz! Whirr! It is probably best suited for kids age 8-11. 146 pages.

Written by educator Jacie Maslyk, this book is less about how things work and more about opening children’s eyes to different types of engineering. Exactly as you would expect from the title, it delivers 500 fun engineering-related facts for kids. It’s divided into chapters on mechanical, aerospace, civil, electrical, robotics and chemical engineering. (This STEM book is part of a series; in her interview on the best books on wild animals for kids, ranger Margaret Darawanda picked The Fascinating Animal Book for Kids: 500 Wild Facts! as one of her recommendations).

If you are looking for a STEM book for slightly younger kids, See Inside How Things Work is an excellent lift-the-flap book for 6-8 year olds.