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What Can a Crane Pick Up?
What can a crane pick up . . . a truck?
Yes, a truck! And a truck . . . And a truck . . .
And a railroad car, if it gets stuck.
A truck, a train,
a car, a plane
can all be lifted with a crane."
From poet Rebecca Kai Dotlich and artist Mike Lowery comes a rollicking picture book about cranes--the kind that pick things up! We start with pipes and bricks and loads of steel and then move on to funny, whimsical a cow, a ferris wheel, men in business suits, and an ancient mummy's case.
With a rhyme that begs to be read aloud again and again, and quirky, exuberant illustrations, this book is sure to delight kids and parents alike. But watch "Cranes pick UP--that's what they do! Look out, or a crane might pick up you!
Yes, a truck! And a truck . . . And a truck . . .
And a railroad car, if it gets stuck.
A truck, a train,
a car, a plane
can all be lifted with a crane."
From poet Rebecca Kai Dotlich and artist Mike Lowery comes a rollicking picture book about cranes--the kind that pick things up! We start with pipes and bricks and loads of steel and then move on to funny, whimsical a cow, a ferris wheel, men in business suits, and an ancient mummy's case.
With a rhyme that begs to be read aloud again and again, and quirky, exuberant illustrations, this book is sure to delight kids and parents alike. But watch "Cranes pick UP--that's what they do! Look out, or a crane might pick up you!
32 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2012
3 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Kai Dotlich
49 books50 followersRebecca is a poet and picture book author of such titles as What is Science? (a 2006 Subaru SB&F prize finalist), and Lemonade Sun (an American Booksellers "Pick of the Lists"). Her work is featured widely in poetry anthologies and textbooks. Rebecca promotes children's poetry, giving presentations and workshops to students, teachers, librarians and writers. She lives in Indiana.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
April 18, 2017
Can a crane pick up a crane?
It could!
And billions of bundles of builders' wood.
This is a funny book which explores what a crane can lift. Answer: anything!
The book is not realistic - mixed in with the real things a crane might lift (a truck, wood, railroad car) it also lists things that would unlikely for a crane to pick up (cuckoo clocks, library books, and baseball caps).
Little kids who are interested in earth movers will love this. It's very engaging for two and three-year-olds.
The book rhymes, which makes it even more appealing to the toddler crowd.
The simple, scratchy drawings are not to my taste, but kids don't seem to care.
It could!
And billions of bundles of builders' wood.
This is a funny book which explores what a crane can lift. Answer: anything!
The book is not realistic - mixed in with the real things a crane might lift (a truck, wood, railroad car) it also lists things that would unlikely for a crane to pick up (cuckoo clocks, library books, and baseball caps).
Little kids who are interested in earth movers will love this. It's very engaging for two and three-year-olds.
The book rhymes, which makes it even more appealing to the toddler crowd.
The simple, scratchy drawings are not to my taste, but kids don't seem to care.
January 21, 2021
A cute book that quickly devolves into silliness, but I still enjoyed it. I only wish there had been at least one page that explained simply just how a crane is able to perform these amazing feats.
May 9, 2019
With the bright colors, the clear pictures, and clever rhymes, What Can a Crane Pick Up? has regular spot in our bedtime reading rotation. My little son and daughter love the singsong quality and the cute smiling cranes defying the laws of nature. My daughter has even picked quite a few words from hearing this read so many times.
Even for the parent, there's much to like here. Unlike some other children's books (looking at you, Goodnight Moon!), this one has some staying power. After so many reads, it stays fresh and fun.
Even for the parent, there's much to like here. Unlike some other children's books (looking at you, Goodnight Moon!), this one has some staying power. After so many reads, it stays fresh and fun.
July 12, 2022
Maybe a bit too whimsical. Cranes CAN do amazing things, no need to embellish it. Exaggerating what the crane lifts for the sake of a rhyme makes it all seem fiction, which is a shame. I legitimately don't know if cranes do lift all these things or it's just fun imagining.
October 28, 2014
Typography is a bit confusing but otherwise, yes, crane porn for vehicle obsessed youngns. Read and enjoyed at 25 months
October 25, 2022
Funny and silly rhyming book that answers the question, "What can a crane pick up?"
Answers vary from serious (loads of steel, building wood) to silly (boxes of underwear, cows...) although all of it could be considered true, as cranes really can pick up a lot of things.
Answers vary from serious (loads of steel, building wood) to silly (boxes of underwear, cows...) although all of it could be considered true, as cranes really can pick up a lot of things.
February 20, 2023
Mostly nonfiction. Yet the storybook drawings and friendly faces, the sheer colorfulness of this picture book make it a fiction-rich romp as well.
Bravo, author Rebecca Kai Dotlich and illustrator Mike Lowery.
Bravo, author Rebecca Kai Dotlich and illustrator Mike Lowery.
March 13, 2017
Kids will love this whimsical look at all of the things a crane could (maybe?) pick up!
September 12, 2017
Kids enjoyed all the things a crane could pick up.
June 5, 2018
Cranes can pick up just about anything big or small. Cranes can pick you up even when you fall into the rhythm of children’s rhyme.
July 25, 2018
Patrick read this one too me and googled after the boxes of underwear and some other silly parts.
February 8, 2019
Good balance of goofs and reality.
March 26, 2019
Cranes can pick up lots of things. Like Ferris Wheels, books and a space shuttle. Here's a fun cartoony nod to an important piece of of machinery.
July 3, 2019
We've read this one several times as a group, and they find it so funny, and love pointing out things we didn't notice the last time we read (or the same things over ;) )
May 19, 2020
A celebration of all the amazing things a crane can lift that is both informative and tongue-in-cheek. The rhyme has the perfect cadence and the pictures are cute as can be.
April 29, 2021
My younger son loved this book. He picked it out at the library and read it on the spot and then asked me to read it to him.
February 14, 2022
Fun book.
July 14, 2022
My faith in cranes has been bolstered by this book.
March 5, 2023
My two year old daughter loves construction equipment and this book was perfect. Cute happy drawings. Fun rhymes. Lots of cranes on every page. She really enjoyed this book.
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January 7, 2024Rhyming. 1 sentence per page or two. Colorful. Text is in a more handwritten format and changes sizes. Busy pages of visuals. Answers all the big and small things that cranes can pick up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2025
Checked out from WD Library in WI
December 5, 2016
A hit with preK! The rhyming was fun and the illustrations were captivating.
October 28, 2012
Rebecca Kai Dotlich's WHAT CAN A CRANE PICK UP is a delightful little book that would pair well with the popular books about construction like GOODNIGHT GOODNIGHT, CONSTRUCTION SITE, Gail Gibbons's HOW A HOUSE IS BUILT, and BUILDER GOOSE, a charming little book of rhymes about construction.
What Rebecca Kai Dotlich has created here is a book that speaks to the Tonka truck set. Those lovable little ones who are still stacking blocks to make towers, turning handles to operate string operated cranes and scoops, and plowing paths with bulldozers, believing that one day they may be behind the sticks that make these big machines move.
WHAT A CRANE CAN PICK UP invites itself to be read aloud. I think this is the only way to catch the sly little rhythms that Rebecca has built into the text the way a masterful children's poet can and will (and an underwear reference will carry it to six stars for knowing and speaking to the demographic here). What happens here is a question that might read like, "What can the listener 'pick up' in what the author has left behind to be discovered?"
Well. . .really nothing if we are not inviting young readers, especially our younger guy readers to scoop into the lines, to pull them to their ear like a cup fashioned by a string to the author's intent, plowing ahead into other collections of verse that deal in machinery and mechanization.
Mike Lowry's illustrations give a little personality to the cranes depicted within. The cranes remind me, as I am sure they will younger readers, of the ever-grinning Lego figures that come with the building kits. I love the businessmen in suits on a pallet along with cowboy boots.
Go back. Read this aloud to yourself again. Deepen your voice a little. Give yourself a little English accent and hear what Rebecca has really created with this charming little book. Don't stop on the page; hit that rhythm and you will see what makes this deceptively-simple book really sing. . .or if you will. . ."move."
Okay. Now, watch. . .this is how we bring this one all of the way up to the secondary level.
Isn't this book an invitation to think about classical invention? Really? Listen to the title. . .what can a __________ _____________? Upon closer inspection, we see Rebecca being a little light-hearted and silly with the crane, but what can _______ do? Or __________ (fill these in with student interests and you have a wonderful introduction to how to shape a topic for research asking a simple analysis question that leads to categorization and classification.
Two more titles to "ladder up" with Rebecca Kai Dotlich's book might be:
CLICK, RUMBLE, AND ROAR: POEMS ABOUT MACHINES by Lee Bennett Hopkins
INCREDIBLE INVENTIONS by Lee Bennett Hopkins
What Rebecca Kai Dotlich has created here is a book that speaks to the Tonka truck set. Those lovable little ones who are still stacking blocks to make towers, turning handles to operate string operated cranes and scoops, and plowing paths with bulldozers, believing that one day they may be behind the sticks that make these big machines move.
WHAT A CRANE CAN PICK UP invites itself to be read aloud. I think this is the only way to catch the sly little rhythms that Rebecca has built into the text the way a masterful children's poet can and will (and an underwear reference will carry it to six stars for knowing and speaking to the demographic here). What happens here is a question that might read like, "What can the listener 'pick up' in what the author has left behind to be discovered?"
Well. . .really nothing if we are not inviting young readers, especially our younger guy readers to scoop into the lines, to pull them to their ear like a cup fashioned by a string to the author's intent, plowing ahead into other collections of verse that deal in machinery and mechanization.
Mike Lowry's illustrations give a little personality to the cranes depicted within. The cranes remind me, as I am sure they will younger readers, of the ever-grinning Lego figures that come with the building kits. I love the businessmen in suits on a pallet along with cowboy boots.
Go back. Read this aloud to yourself again. Deepen your voice a little. Give yourself a little English accent and hear what Rebecca has really created with this charming little book. Don't stop on the page; hit that rhythm and you will see what makes this deceptively-simple book really sing. . .or if you will. . ."move."
Okay. Now, watch. . .this is how we bring this one all of the way up to the secondary level.
Isn't this book an invitation to think about classical invention? Really? Listen to the title. . .what can a __________ _____________? Upon closer inspection, we see Rebecca being a little light-hearted and silly with the crane, but what can _______ do? Or __________ (fill these in with student interests and you have a wonderful introduction to how to shape a topic for research asking a simple analysis question that leads to categorization and classification.
Two more titles to "ladder up" with Rebecca Kai Dotlich's book might be:
CLICK, RUMBLE, AND ROAR: POEMS ABOUT MACHINES by Lee Bennett Hopkins
INCREDIBLE INVENTIONS by Lee Bennett Hopkins
November 18, 2015
This very silly book inventories a long list of things a crane can pick up. It talks first about lifting different types of transportation—trains, trucks, and planes. The book then inventories lots of other items that a crane can pick up—wagon wheels, loads of steel, submarines, other cranes, builder’s wood. The list begins to get sillier, as the crane begins picking up boxes of underwear, men in business suits, and even YOU! In addition to providing some comedic relief in a hectic preschool environment, this book provides rich opportunities to develop literacy and math skills. For literacy, the rhyme and rhythm of the book allows for children to practice onsets/rimes, clozes, text prediction, and rhyming. Because the crane picks up so many BIG items, this is a great opportunity to practice “bigger than” and “smaller than,” as well as to begin discussing the concept of weight. A potential follow-up activity would be to bring in a scale and to challenge children to find the heaviest thing in the classroom (that a crane could surely lift!). This activity (as well as the book) could be easily adapted to children of all abilities.
November 29, 2012
This lively rhyming book is built around a single question: What can a crane pick up? The answer: lots of things! Trucks, railroad cars, airplanes, trees, submarines, even a cow! “Cranes pick up— that’s what they do!”
The energetic text is like a snowball gaining momentum downhill as Dotlich expands from ordinary (trucks, steel) to extraordinary cargo, such as cuckoo clocks, cowboy boots, and “boxes and boxes of underwear.” Although the rhyming could be smoother, readers will enjoy the call and response nature of the book. The illustrations, created with pencil, silk screen, and digital techniques, are brightly colored and outlined in irregular, thick black lines. The cartoonish pictures are very happy and nearly all the vehicles have dot eyes and smiling mouths.
Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...
The energetic text is like a snowball gaining momentum downhill as Dotlich expands from ordinary (trucks, steel) to extraordinary cargo, such as cuckoo clocks, cowboy boots, and “boxes and boxes of underwear.” Although the rhyming could be smoother, readers will enjoy the call and response nature of the book. The illustrations, created with pencil, silk screen, and digital techniques, are brightly colored and outlined in irregular, thick black lines. The cartoonish pictures are very happy and nearly all the vehicles have dot eyes and smiling mouths.
Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...
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October 7, 2012•Brief summary
What can a crane pick up? A truck, a railroad car, and a plane can all be lifted with a crane. Oh but thats not all a crane can pick up a wooden wheel, a load of steel, and a submarine. Don't forget a crane can pick up almost anything.
•Audience
Pre-k or kindergarten
•Appeal
Rhyming words and simple kid friendly pictures in the whole story. The best part is the funny things a crane can pick up like business men.
•Implementation
In the classroom when learning about a crane or what can a crane do.
Dotlich, R. K., & Lowery, M. (2012). What can a crane pick up?. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
What can a crane pick up? A truck, a railroad car, and a plane can all be lifted with a crane. Oh but thats not all a crane can pick up a wooden wheel, a load of steel, and a submarine. Don't forget a crane can pick up almost anything.
•Audience
Pre-k or kindergarten
•Appeal
Rhyming words and simple kid friendly pictures in the whole story. The best part is the funny things a crane can pick up like business men.
•Implementation
In the classroom when learning about a crane or what can a crane do.
Dotlich, R. K., & Lowery, M. (2012). What can a crane pick up?. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
January 3, 2016
The rhythm and rhyme of this book is fun, but the ideas and pictures of this book are so totally inaccurate that I found myself apologizing to my brother and nephew after reading it to my nephew. I was hoping for a fun, informative book about cranes. I got a book that was loaded with inaccuracies (an illustration of a crane on the earth "lifting" a shuttle in orbit) that needed to be discussed. Although I can deal with some "creative license," when I pick up a book entitled "What Can A Crane Pick Up?" I expect something a little more fact based.
July 21, 2012
Adorable rhyming picture book! A fun mix of facts and silliness. Yes, cranes pick up steel and wood and more--like "a load of steel, a wheel, a tree...and a submarine from beneath the sea." I love this part: "How about poles and pipes and bricks? To a crane, it's a game of pick-up sticks." Rebecca's skill as a poet shines through in the sounds, meters, and metaphor. A must have for any young construction fan!
January 23, 2013
This book is great for any little boy who is interested in mechanical things. I enjoyed the story about all the things a crane can pick up. I gave it a lower rating because of how the words and pictures were illustrated. It was a bit confusing when the words were all different sizes and fonts. The pictures were ok but seemed more like a child had drawn them and therefore were all over the place in style. I think any boy reader will like the idea of all the different things a crane can move.
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August 10, 2020August 2020: I read this to Mama the other day!
Re-read March 2019: I picked this for Mama to read to me the other night.
Re-read multiple times in 2018: I haven't asked for this book for awhile, but I thought of it today and wanted to read it.
Originally read in 2017: Mama read this to me tonight. I loved the author's train book so much I wanted to read more by her. We reread this often, to the point where I almost have it memorized!
Re-read March 2019: I picked this for Mama to read to me the other night.
Re-read multiple times in 2018: I haven't asked for this book for awhile, but I thought of it today and wanted to read it.
Originally read in 2017: Mama read this to me tonight. I loved the author's train book so much I wanted to read more by her. We reread this often, to the point where I almost have it memorized!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews