That's How!

That's How! by Christoph Nieman
2011

     Around ten years ago I was in Spain visiting relatives, and one of my uncles gave us a tour of his town.  Everywhere we went he had a great story to tell about the place and its history.  At one point I turned around and asked my cousin how his father knew so much about the town and he said to me in Spanish: "He knows a bit, and what he doesn't know, he makes up."  I've thought about that quote many times since, especially when my four year old goes around asking his favorite questions: why? and how does that work?  And today, I found the perfect picture book to go along with the "how does that work?" question.
     In That's How! a girl is always asking a boy how do different things work.  The boy always replies "Hmm...let me think." And in the next page we see him come up with a very imaginative answer to the question and saying "that's how!"  Always getting a "Wow!' in return from the girl.   So, how does an airplane work? Well, according to the boy the plane is filled with chickens furiously flapping their wings. And a train? A monkey is making soup and three other monkeys are running on a conveyor belt trying to reach the pot.  And my favorite, how does a digger work?  There is a pink rabbit inside holding a long alligator whose jaws do all the digging. 
     That's How is a blast.  It will have kids rolling at the crazy explanations the boy comes up with and will get their imaginations going with other explanations they can come up with themselves.  As for me, when my boy asks me how something works and I don't know, I'm using the rabbit-alligator explanation.