Levers Lessen the Load

*Selected as a “recommended title” by the Kansas National Education Association’s Reading Circle Commission

Learn how simple machines make work easier in these colorful nonfiction picture books all about science and engineering!

Have you ever played on a seesaw? You were using a lever!

A lever is one of six simple machines that are designed to make different kinds of work easier. Lifting, pulling, pushing—all these tasks are more efficient when you use a simple machine. In Levers Lessen the Load: Simple Machines for Kids, readers ages 5 to 8 learn how levers and fulcrums can help us move far more weight than we can on our own. Need to lift a heavy rock? Use a lever! Need to push a log out of the way? Use a lever! Know where else you can find levers? In your own body—when you lift an object and carry it in your hand, you are using your arm as a lever.

Concepts including forces, mechanical advantage, and different classes of levers come clear with engaging illustrations and lots of real-life examples that kids can spot in their home, schools, and neighborhoods.

An introductory poem offers language arts connections while a hands-on activity at the end reinforces concepts in the book. A glossary and photographs offer even more supplemental learning opportunities.

Levers Lessen the Load is part of a six-book set of Picture Book Science books designed to introduce young engineers to physical science concepts. Other titles are Wedges Make a Point, Screws Keep Things Secure, Pulleys Pull Their Weight, Wheels Make the World Go Round, and Inclined Planes Ramp It Up.

All books are leveled for Guided Reading level and Lexile and align with Common Core state standards and Next Generation Science Standards.

All titles are available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook formats.

Andi Diehn has written many books for children, and a few for adults as well. She works as an editor and marketer for Nomad Press and lives with her family in rural New Hampshire.

Micah Rauch is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator from the beautiful state of Montana. He received a BFA in graphic design from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, and has illustrated several books for Nomad Press, including Kitchen Chemistry, Fairground Physics, and Crazy Contraptions.