Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 5: Engineering (My Original Plan)

Still no AC this week.  Very warm, despite fans.  Families still great, kids still lovely.

Because of the heat, I switched things up a bit.  My original plan was to read Willy and the Cardboard Boxes by Lizi Boyd, How a House is Built by Gail Gibbons, and Demolition by Sally Sutton (all of which I'll review below, because they are awesome books, and I'm sad I didn't get to do them this time.)  Instead, I had a whole different line-up of shorter, easier books, which I'll also review in the next post, because they are also quite nice, and the kids enjoyed them.  

My Original Plan:

Willy and the Cardboard Boxes
Lizi Boyd
ISBN: 9780670836369
A boy goes to work with his dad and spends the day with a set of empty cardboard boxes, which turn into many imaginary things.

I like this story for a lot of reasons.  First, we have a dad taking his son to work, which is nice.  Next, we have the dad being supportive and helpful towards his son's self-play activities (offering advice, giving scissors and tape, checking in on him but not interrupting).  After that we have Willy himself, creating an awesome stream-of-consciousness adventure fueled pretty much entirely by some boxes and markers.  The story is longer, but it flows well, and the ending where Willy and his dad head back home is surprisingly touching.

Demolition
Sally Sutton, illustrated by Brian Lovelock
ISBN: 9780763664930
Pencil and watercolor? illustrations of oversized but realistic construction equipment, lots of sound effects.

A really good pick for the middle, because it's so short and lively, unfortunately it was out of place in my replacement (oh my lord it's so hot) line-up of reads today.  Despite the fun of the book, and the great rhymes and word-play, I would have preferred that it either stick with the theme of demolition, leaving an empty bare place for the next construction, or that the creation of the park at the end was more integrated into the story.  Have to say that I like Roadwork (same author/illustrator) a little better for that exact reason, even though my go-to book for road-building is Easy Street by Rita Gray, illustrated by Mary Bono (which I also need to use again and review).  Niggles aside, I doubt that toddlers obsessed with construction equipment are even going to notice, and it's great fun to read.

How a House is Built
Gail Gibbons
ISBN: 9780823412327
Simple primary-colors and clean lines show off the process of constructing and moving into a house.

Extremely similar to Byron Barton's Building a House, but with more text and the illustrations are slightly more sophisticated, and often show chronology through inset panels (like a comic strip or "classic" graphic novel).  The small pictures can present difficulties for larger groups, but despite that, I prefer this one unless I specifically need a short read because it has much more information and more specific construction details.  I find that kids are really interested in the details, so they're willing to sit longer when they're hearing bits they haven't learned about before (plumbing and wiring especially seem fascinating).

So, I'm a bit sad that I didn't get to use these good books today, but they're a great program all together, and I'm going to hit them up again probably in the fall when school starts back up.