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Lonely Planet Kids
How Cities Work
Get ready to explore the city in a whole new way. This innovative book for younger readers is packed with city facts, loads of flaps to lift, and unfolding pages to see inside buildings and under the streets.
Children aged 5+ can learn about skyscrapers, subway systems and stinky sewers. Discover where people live and peek behind closed doors to see what's going on in houses and apartments, or why not find out about what goes on underneath the streets you walk on every day?
Each page is stylishly illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock, creator of the All The Buildings That I've Drawn So Far series (Universe Publishing) and there are loads of quirky details to spot. How many giant cowboy hats can you find through the book?
Created in consultation with Jill Sterrett, lecturer with the department of Urban Planning at the University of Washington.
Contents :
The birth of a city
In and out of the city
City living
Build, build, build!
High-rise life
Green spaces
Going underground
City hall
Emergency services
Recreation and culture
Night and day
Cities of the future
About Lonely Planet Kids: From the world's leading travel publisher comes Lonely Planet Kids, a children's imprint that brings the world to life for young explorers everywhere. With a range of beautiful books for children aged 5-12, we're kickstarting the travel bug and showing kids just how amazing our planet can be.
From bright and bold sticker activity books, to beautiful gift titles bursting at the seams with amazing facts, we aim to inspire and delight curious kids, showing them the rich diversity of people, places and cultures that surrounds us. We pledge to share our enthusiasm and love of the world, our sense of humour and continual fascination for what it is that makes the world we live in the diverse and magnificent place it is.
It's going to be a big adventure - come explore!
0207From the sewers to the skyscrapers, this book takes younger readers to the heart of the city. Perforated flaps let you see what's going on behind closed doors, and big gatefolds reveal what's going on under the street, plus other surprising city spaces. With illustrations from James Gulliver Hancock, it's the city like you've never seen it before!0401http://media.lonelyplanet.com/onix-fe... Planet Kids0101GOODREPRUKLonely Planet Global Limitedhttp://www.lonelyplanet.com0420161111... AE AF AL AM AO AQ AS AT AU AX AZ BA BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BN BT BV BW BY CC CD CF CG CH CI CK CM CN CV CX CY CZ DE DJ DK DZ EE EG EH ER ES ET FI FJ FM FO FR GA GB GE GG GH GI GM GN GQ GR GU GW HK HM HR HU ID IE IL IM IN IQ IR IS IT JE JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KP KR KW KZ L LA LB LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MG MH MK ML MM MN MO MP MR MT MU MV MW MY MZ NA NC NE NF NG NL NO NP NR NU NZ OM PF PG PH PK PL PN PS PT PW QA RE RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SS ST SY SZ TD TF TG TH TJ TK TL TM TN TO TR TV TW TZ UA UG UZ VA VN VU WF WS YE YT YU ZA ZM ZW0110.24in0211.10in030.59in082.198lb01260mm02282mm0315mm08.997kgGRANTHAM BOOK SERVICESUK20100102Lonely PlanetTrade12.99GBPUKZ
Children aged 5+ can learn about skyscrapers, subway systems and stinky sewers. Discover where people live and peek behind closed doors to see what's going on in houses and apartments, or why not find out about what goes on underneath the streets you walk on every day?
Each page is stylishly illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock, creator of the All The Buildings That I've Drawn So Far series (Universe Publishing) and there are loads of quirky details to spot. How many giant cowboy hats can you find through the book?
Created in consultation with Jill Sterrett, lecturer with the department of Urban Planning at the University of Washington.
Contents :
The birth of a city
In and out of the city
City living
Build, build, build!
High-rise life
Green spaces
Going underground
City hall
Emergency services
Recreation and culture
Night and day
Cities of the future
About Lonely Planet Kids: From the world's leading travel publisher comes Lonely Planet Kids, a children's imprint that brings the world to life for young explorers everywhere. With a range of beautiful books for children aged 5-12, we're kickstarting the travel bug and showing kids just how amazing our planet can be.
From bright and bold sticker activity books, to beautiful gift titles bursting at the seams with amazing facts, we aim to inspire and delight curious kids, showing them the rich diversity of people, places and cultures that surrounds us. We pledge to share our enthusiasm and love of the world, our sense of humour and continual fascination for what it is that makes the world we live in the diverse and magnificent place it is.
It's going to be a big adventure - come explore!
0207From the sewers to the skyscrapers, this book takes younger readers to the heart of the city. Perforated flaps let you see what's going on behind closed doors, and big gatefolds reveal what's going on under the street, plus other surprising city spaces. With illustrations from James Gulliver Hancock, it's the city like you've never seen it before!0401http://media.lonelyplanet.com/onix-fe... Planet Kids0101GOODREPRUKLonely Planet Global Limitedhttp://www.lonelyplanet.com0420161111... AE AF AL AM AO AQ AS AT AU AX AZ BA BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BN BT BV BW BY CC CD CF CG CH CI CK CM CN CV CX CY CZ DE DJ DK DZ EE EG EH ER ES ET FI FJ FM FO FR GA GB GE GG GH GI GM GN GQ GR GU GW HK HM HR HU ID IE IL IM IN IQ IR IS IT JE JO JP KE KG KH KI KM KP KR KW KZ L LA LB LK LR LS LT LU LV LY MA MC MD ME MG MH MK ML MM MN MO MP MR MT MU MV MW MY MZ NA NC NE NF NG NL NO NP NR NU NZ OM PF PG PH PK PL PN PS PT PW QA RE RO RS RU RW SA SB SC SD SE SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SS ST SY SZ TD TF TG TH TJ TK TL TM TN TO TR TV TW TZ UA UG UZ VA VN VU WF WS YE YT YU ZA ZM ZW0110.24in0211.10in030.59in082.198lb01260mm02282mm0315mm08.997kgGRANTHAM BOOK SERVICESUK20100102Lonely PlanetTrade12.99GBPUKZ
24 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2016
2 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
James Gulliver Hancock
39 books35 followersJames Gulliver Hancock’s obsession with re-imaging his world has seen him work for major print, TV and music publishing releases including: Coca-Cola, Ford Motors, Herman Miller, Businessweek Magazine, The New York Times and Simon&Schuster. He has participated in projects in the USA the UK, Indonesia, Austria, Germany, France and Australia, taking his whimsical perception around the world.
He grew up in Sydney, Australia, and studied Visual Communications at the University of Technology, Sydney. In kindergarten he remembers devising the most complex image he could think of … refusing to move on to the next activity after painting, instead detailing a complex drawing of a city of houses including every detail, every person, and every spider web between every house. He still has the drawing.
In high school he discovered technical drawing. He has always been obsessed with machines and the way things work and rendering the meeting of tiny screws in perfect perspective was a delight. This is now married with a love of colour, paint, and controlled mess as well as connecting it to deeper conceptual and philosophical meaning.
He has traveled extensively including an overland journey from Sydney to London via S.E. Asia, China, Japan, Russia and Europe. Rolling in a typhoon in the sea between Japan and Russia he wondered how he’d save his sketchbook when the ship sank. He undertook artist residencies all over Europe and most recently has been living in New York where he has worked for a wide variety of high profile clients and taken the city by storm with his personal project www.allthebuildingsinnewyork.com
Currently he works out of two studios: one in The Pencil Factory in Brooklyn, New York, and from his homeland studio by the beach in Sydney, Australia.
Source: Biography.
He grew up in Sydney, Australia, and studied Visual Communications at the University of Technology, Sydney. In kindergarten he remembers devising the most complex image he could think of … refusing to move on to the next activity after painting, instead detailing a complex drawing of a city of houses including every detail, every person, and every spider web between every house. He still has the drawing.
In high school he discovered technical drawing. He has always been obsessed with machines and the way things work and rendering the meeting of tiny screws in perfect perspective was a delight. This is now married with a love of colour, paint, and controlled mess as well as connecting it to deeper conceptual and philosophical meaning.
He has traveled extensively including an overland journey from Sydney to London via S.E. Asia, China, Japan, Russia and Europe. Rolling in a typhoon in the sea between Japan and Russia he wondered how he’d save his sketchbook when the ship sank. He undertook artist residencies all over Europe and most recently has been living in New York where he has worked for a wide variety of high profile clients and taken the city by storm with his personal project www.allthebuildingsinnewyork.com
Currently he works out of two studios: one in The Pencil Factory in Brooklyn, New York, and from his homeland studio by the beach in Sydney, Australia.
Source: Biography.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 30, 2020
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2017
Lonely Planet kids has done it again with "How Cities Work." This book allows kids the opportunity to explore the city inside, outside and underground, with lots of cool flaps to lift to see inside buildings, not to mention unfold pages to find out what is going on above your head and udder your feet. Overall a fantastic book that gives a full in depth account to city life as you have never seen it before, and already a popular book amongst kids, which is currently hot on the reserve list.
January 24, 2018
Such a great book! The pictures are wonderfully detailed with lots and lots of fun and creative flaps to lift. O is a little young for the information about each page, but that didn't stop him from pouring over the pictures for 2 weeks (which is really long in toddler years).
October 13, 2020
This book is a great resource to use when talking about cities in the classroom. It provides information on the inside, outside, and underground in the city. This book as many flaps inside to lift and find out more information, it is really neat how the book is structured.
July 3, 2017
Interesting presentation of cities with pages to open and fold-ups. A fun book.
October 3, 2020
“How Cities Work” (Lonely Planet Kids)
You can’t help but look at all the images and peak behind the flaps that disclose what is happening inside. **
You can’t help but look at all the images and peak behind the flaps that disclose what is happening inside. **
May 19, 2025
Loved all the big buildings
March 3, 2017
This is one of those few books that entertained both me and my 3-year old. It's a realistic portrayal of how a city grows and works. It also has LOTS of foldouts and cool flaps that actually make sense and let you see inside buildings, underground, and at different times of the day. I highly recommend this.
May 8, 2023
It is a great resource to learn about cities but lots of bias in there (only unlucky people stand on a bus, a boardroom with a great view is how to know if a company is going places, young adults are untidy).
Almost nothing about renewable energy (until the last page about the future) or accessibility (even though there’s a whole page about elevators), lots of talk about “luxury” (“this mansion is the height
of luxury”, “a penthouse is a real luxury”, “the mayor is the head of the city so it’s only right that his office is the grandest in the city”), and a flap about a drilling machine named “Bertha” where the pronoun she is used to refer to the machine (“she’s a colossal 174m”).
Best spread is the last page which shows a solar punk city made of stacked glass domes covered in gardens and solar panels. I bought the book for this page.
Almost nothing about renewable energy (until the last page about the future) or accessibility (even though there’s a whole page about elevators), lots of talk about “luxury” (“this mansion is the height
of luxury”, “a penthouse is a real luxury”, “the mayor is the head of the city so it’s only right that his office is the grandest in the city”), and a flap about a drilling machine named “Bertha” where the pronoun she is used to refer to the machine (“she’s a colossal 174m”).
Best spread is the last page which shows a solar punk city made of stacked glass domes covered in gardens and solar panels. I bought the book for this page.
February 4, 2017
"How Cities Work" is a nonfiction book with a target audience of students pre-k to 3rd grade. I chose to pair this book with a fictional book titled "Cat in the City" by Julie Salamon. This book is definitely catered towards younger children, nevertheless it tells a fun story about a cat traveling around in a city trying to make it on his own. But what really is a city? What are the different roles of people in a city? After reading this fun fictional story, young children can then take a look at the nonfiction book "How Cities Work" in order to learn about the world around them, and hopefully relate aspects of the book to their own lives.
July 21, 2018
I was excited to pick this up, thinking I'd take it out to schools, but found that it was a little too simplistic for that usage (for me).
There are lift-the-flaps, some fold-out pages, and it's engagingly illustrated.
I think my expectations were especially raised because of how much I enjoyed You Rule!: A Practical Guide to Creating Your Own Kingdom, also put out by Lonely Planet. But this is pitched much lower than that.
There are lift-the-flaps, some fold-out pages, and it's engagingly illustrated.
I think my expectations were especially raised because of how much I enjoyed You Rule!: A Practical Guide to Creating Your Own Kingdom, also put out by Lonely Planet. But this is pitched much lower than that.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews