Simple Machines in the Military

From School Library Journal Gr 4-6-A well-intentioned but flawed series. Each title devotes a single page to defining each of the six simple machines: inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever, pulley, and wheel and axle. These titles are on the redundant side: captions often repeat parts of the narrative, and toward the end, all titles contain the statement "a compound or complex machine is one made up of two or more simple machines." Scissors and wheelbarrows turn up several times as examples of complex machines, and occasionally human bodies are used as simple or complex machines, too. Explanations are on the murky side, and there are no related materials or books, other than the publisher's own website. Overall, weak offerings; Sports is the most informative and likely to appeal to children.α(c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. --This text refers to the