There was a book from around 1960 entitled "The way things work". I believe it was first published in German as spelling?~"Wie functunert das". In many ways it is similar to the later book, and usees cartoons (stick figures) to demonstrate certain principles. While presumably aimed at the novice, I would not say it is a children's book. I have to wonder if this book was the inspiration for the more recent one. If anyone else is familiar with this book, it might be helpful to have a disambiguation or a separate page.