Sounds All Around: The Science of How Sound Works

Sounds All Around: The Science of How Sound Works is like a delicious, nutritious sandwich. The middle is full of satisfying filling – facts and information about noise – surrounded by a tantalizing looking bun which makes you want to dig right in.

This may sound like a very fanciful way to describe a book but The Sounds All Around: The Science of How Sound Works has a very different format which requires a bit of fancy to understand. The usual pattern for a primary picture book is to limit the number of words per page throughout. The Sounds All Around: The Science of How Sound Works has a picture book beginning and ending, with about a dozen or less words per double page spread, but the middle pages increase the number of words on the page and the complexity of the information about sound and hearing. This unusual format is securely held together by the wonderful artwork by illustrator Ellen Rooney.

Throughout the book, a young person and a dog with a red neckerchief can be seen enjoying the sounds of nature and the city. For example, while the young person plucks the strings of a guitar, the dog beats a drum which create vibrations that reach a graphic illustration of an ear, complete with outer ear, ear canal, eardrum, and inner ear.

Inside the ear canal, the sound waves make your eardrum vibrate, and this vibration makes thousands of tiny hairs shiver. These shivering hairs turn the sound energy into signals, which travel straight to your brain.

Aha! Your brain tells you you’re hearing a sound and what that sound is.

Also included in the middle section of the book is a “Hearing Range in Hertz (Hz)” graph, showing the differences in hearing range for humans and 11 animals. The double page graph of information is charmingly illustrated with drawings of all 12 of the animals (including Human). The next double page spread includes a chart of examples of loud and soft sounds that are within the average human hearing range. The examples include “A pin dropping” at 10 decibels, to “Sound waves become shock waves” at 194 decibels.

In addition to the main text, the author has also included some information which will likely promote deeper discussions or may provide helpful information for adults who are asked those deeper questions by the young readers.

Why do you hear thunder after you see lightning? Light travels through air much faster than sound does, so the lightning always reaches you first.

The Sounds All Around: The Science of How Sound Works begins and ends with the illustration of a bee buzzing across the page on a summer day. At the back of the book are instructions to “Make a Bee Buzzer” which gives readers a chance to put some of the learning about sound into action.

Curious young readers are going to enjoy sharing this yummy book sandwich with their adults. The Sounds All Around: The Science of How Sound Works is a great way for readers to digest as much or as little information about sound as they are hungry for today.