PICTURE BOOK REVIEW : Take it Apart by Katey Howes
ABOUT THE BOOK
This rhyming picture book joyfully celebrates the many benefits of breaking big things down into smaller pieces. From gathering spare parts for fixing things to learning math and spelling to recycling and composting, taking things apart can be a surprisingly great strategy! Energetic rhyming verse and playful illustrations will inspire readers to see taking things apart in a whole new light!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR
Katey Howes was an award-winning children’s author and poet whose books celebrated curiosity, creativity, STEAM learning, and social-emotional growth. Her acclaimed works include Be a Maker, Rissy No Kissies—named a Kirkus Best Children’s Book, a Rise: A Feminist Book Project List selection, and a Keystone to Reading Book Award nominee—Woven of the World, Grandmother Thorn, and Where the Deer Slip Through, which has been named one of Amazon’s Best Children’s Books of 2025. Her forthcoming picture book, Take It Apart (Carolrhoda Books, August 2026), continues her legacy of inspiring young readers to explore, invent, and discover.
To learn more about Take It Apart and access a free curriculum guide, visit kateyhowes.com/books/take-it-apart/.
Elizabet Vuković grew up around makers in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Her mom introduced her to making with fabrics. She and her sister accompanied their dad on many trips to the hardware store for his constant home renovation projects, and her sister continues to use Elizabet as her guinea pig for many outrageous inventions. Elizabet graduated with a degree in optometry before deciding to go back to school for illustration in San Francisco, where she currently resides. Visit elizabethvukovic.com to learn more.
REVIEW
Taking things apart is often how people come to understand that thing and what makes it tick. The poetry highlights the joys and importance of taking things apart to figure out how they work. Using illustrations of all kinds of things both natural (oranges) and manmade (tricycle) the illustrator shows the joys of taking things apart. A diverse group of characters joyfully take apart all kinds of things including teachers who help students take apart a word or a big number such as tree + house = treehouse! The children in the book experience all kinds of ways to take things apart whether using one's fingers to peel and eat an orange or using a microscope to examine a leaf or a shell. The way the natural world takes things apart is also highlighted through composting and breaking down left over food into dirt. Even projects can be broken down into individual tasks to complete. This educational book reminds readers that not only can taking things apart be fun, but it helps us make better sense of the world around us. Recommended.
SAMPLE ILLUSTRATIONS
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