When I discovered a new Perfect Picture Book by the late Katey Howes, I had to add it to my Katey shelf and share it with you.
Title: Take It Apart
Written By: Katey Howes
Illustrated By: E.V.
Publisher/Date: Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group/2026
Suitable for Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: creativity, building, rhyming, destruction, construction, reconstruction
Opening:
Some call you a Wrecking Ball. Some say Destroyer.
A troublesome, mess-making, chaos enjoyer.
Brief Synopsis: A celebration of breaking big things down into smaller pieces.
Links to Resources:
· Check out the many activities in the Curriculum Guide;
· Practice breaking a big project into smaller tasks. For instance, to clean up your toys, start with one type of toy, like building blocks, put those away, and then proceed to another type of toy, like stuffed animals;
· Think of the compound words you know, like bookshelf, pancake, and backpack. Try writing a sentence or story using as many compound words as possible.
Why I Like this Book:
In this fast-paced rhyming celebration of taking things apart, Howes and E.V. focus on one young girl who seems to be a “Wrecking Ball” and her teacher and classmates who work together to take things apart and then recombine them.
From electronics to foods, compound words to big numbers, and much more, Howes shares examples of how we can take things apart to build them back or understand them better. Interesting rhymes, like spinning and beginning, repair and share, and inside and magnified, will capture little listeners’ attentions. Addressing them directly and the repetition of “take it apart” will keep them engaged.
E.V.’s watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil illustrations that vary from several small vignettes on a page, to two-color peeks inside the young girl’s head to “see” what she’s thinking, to multi-paneled spreads showing how composting creates dirt, and more provide loads of opportunities to find surprises on each spread. I especially love the diverse cast of characters of all ages, skin tones, and abilities.
Whether read at school or at home, Take It Apart is sure to be a hit. And it may inspire some taking apart and, hopefully, reassembly.
A Note about Craft:
Interesting rhymes plus repetition plus inclusion of “you” throughout the text help engage readers and encourage them to take things apart.
This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!
Wander, Ponder, Write 