Toy Trucks Book

Big Machines - by Karen Wallace

ISBN: 0789454114

Big Machines is a "Beginning to Read" level 1 book for pre-schoolers through first graders.

It takes the young child through a project from beginning to end: the demolition of a building and the construction of a park.

The first page begins with a construction worker standing next to his front loader staring up and the old empty factory and imagining a new park in it's place.

The last page of the book shows the new park, and a parent in the park remembering the old empty factory building that had been there.

In between those pages, each page shows colorful photos of each working truck doing its job, with narrative corresponding to the demolition of the building and removal of rubble, to the construction of the new park structures.

Your child will be able to follow the process from beginning to end through the words you're reading and the photos he or she is seeing.

The book's strengths are that it shows the reader the role that each truck plays in the process of preparing for and building a park. Many "Big Machines" books of this nature only show kids about a truck and what it does, but doesn't provide the context as to how the truck works alongside other task to accomplish a big goal.

Although the book takes a larger perspective on the trucks roles in the project, the authors also talk briefly about a special feature of each machine and how it works. And at the end of the book, after the last page of narrative, there is a picture word list with 8 photos of things related to the special equipment on the working trucks that your child has seen throughout the book (eg: rubble, bucket, blade, tailgate, shovel, chute, wheel, forks)

It's a little bit dry since it's more narration than story, but it's a nice change from storybooks. And it's a fun learning book for your child.

4 Mommy-Stars out of 5.