ReadItDaddy's Retro Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 12th July 2019: "What Makes It Go?" by Joe Kaufman (Hamlyn)

Sometimes a book burns itself into your brain to such an extent, that even if you don't have a copy of it you end up spending a lot of time thinking about it.

"What Makes it Go?" by Joe Kaufman was a book I remember getting for Christmas back in 1975. I loved non-fiction books, in fact I really loved reading encyclopaedias and soaked up their knowledge like a hungry little sponge.

This one though, this was a book that was purposely created for kids who loved taking things apart to see what made them work - but also had a stack of amazing information on everyday (at the time) gadgets that utterly blew my 7 year old mind.

Joe's easy illustrative style, and simple explanations were just so addictive. I read my copy of this until it fell to bits. I remember passing on what remained of it to my little brother (who had very little respect for books, and drew all over it / trashed it, the little swine!!)

On a whim I ordered a copy from a reseller, and though it didn't have the same cover as the one I originally had (the copy I managed to pick up was from 1983 - the 13th reprint!), it was largely unaltered from the version I remember as a child.

Look inside:

Amazingly, my daughter already knows what vinyl is, largely thanks to it having a bit of a 'moment' all over again

Dig those crazy 1970s fashions!!

Lifts and escalators, and slightly grumpy elephants!

I remember going on the underground and thinking about that complicated mechanism underneath an escalator almost constantly as we rode up and down (I love Joe's illustration of the poor hapless kid replicating how an escalator works, with his thankless pals riding up the hill all thanks to his efforts).

The saddest spread of all. This is what the future looked like for Joe back in 1972

Yeah that last one was a bit of a hit and hope. I guess even Joe never imagined that nearly 50 years later we'd still be pootling around in gas-guzzling cars, choking the environment with greenhouse gases.

Books like this are thankfully making something of a comeback, and we are truly fortunate to see many, many non fiction books that are as great as this one. But as far as happy childhood memories of treasured books go, this one was so durned special to me. Worth grabbing if you can track down a copy, even for the mild amusement value it provides to modern kids who look at the sections on telephones and wonder why on earth we used to have phones that plugged into the wall!

Sum this book up in a sentence: One of the greatest 'how it works' books ever, from a children's illustrator at the top of his game back then.

"What Makes it Go?" by Joe Kaufman is out of print (sob) but you might still pick up a secondhand copy (self purchased, not provided for review).