Take It Apart is a 2026 picture book written by Katey Howes and illustrated by E. V. (Elizabet Vukovic). It is fun, and would both appeal to kids and be useful for teachers.
It’s told in rhyme, and the rhymed couplets are both original and enjoyable: how many times do you see “Destroyer” and “chaos enjoyer” rhymed?
The book follows first one, then several kids through taking things apart. It starts by acknowledging that many people see taking things apart as bad (the whole destroyer/chaos enjoyer starting point), but then leads to how taking things apart is in fact analysis, and can lead to repair, regeneration, and creation. It links taking things apart physically to doing the same linguistically and mathematically in school, linking all forms of analysis.
From school and the human world the book moves out into the natural world, following kid scientists as they take things apart to examine them. It links this to recycling, and to creation from old things, with a segue along the way into the microbes that break food waste down into component parts, and then dirt.
The images are large, colorful, and inviting, and work together with the words to create an inviting whole, one that supports kids ripping, tearing, hammering, and “unscrewing” as valid activities in themselves and roads to creation and learning.
The images also demonstrate what the words communicate. For example, on the cover the title is written using letters taken from or discovered in other items. For example, three bones are recycled into the T in “Take.” A nice touch.
