A bravura display of imagination by Rob Ives has produced this delightful collection of working automata to cut out and make. As you operate the mechanisms, the hopping sheep hop energetically and the Pecking Hen pecks keenly into its feeder. The rather sad Motley Man bows and acknowledges the applause he has earned and while the flying fish does not actually fly, it does flap its wings and undulate in a delightfully unexpected manner. Each of the mechanisms use a different principle to generate motion, so this book is of special interest to those who like to see what remarkable things can be achieved with paper. Making one of these models also satisfies curriculum requirements for making a simple machine.
