Construction Zone

by Cheryl Willis Hudson, Richard Sobol (Illustrator)

“Will be fascinating for the burgeoning builder. . . . This intriguing project gives an amazingly broad overview of the entire building process.” —  Kirkus Reviews

Caution! Construction zone ahead! Anyone who has ever stopped to watch a big building going up — and who hasn't? — will be thrilled by this behind-the-scenes look at an amazing construction project.

Genres: Construction, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Architecture

32 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2006

About the author

Cheryl Willis Hudson is vice president and editorial director of Just Us Books, an independent publisher of black-interest books for children and young adults. She has written many books for children, and lives in New Jersey.

Reviews

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: I am reading Richard Sobol's entire backlist with my son and discussing the life of a photographer/photojournalist as a career option while doing so.

Construction Zone is the only one of Richard Sobol's children's books which he did not write himself. Sobol spent 3 years documenting the building of MIT's Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences. Much of that work can be found in a book published by MIT itself. This book includes photos Sobol took during that assignment. The writing itself is written for a younger child than Sobol's own books and describes the work on a construction zone from architect to carpenters to masons to electricians and so on. It has a very easy to read narrative with definitions at the bottom of each page that will delight the youngest of readers, especially boys who love to hang around when they see local construction at work.

Sobol's photography is absolutely brilliant and makes the book suitable for browsing by anyone of any age. The Stata Center is one strange example of architecture and Sobol's fantastic photography make this the type of book to lay upon the coffee table for browsing. Ds especially enjoyed this book, compared to Sobol's other nature books. Since we are talking about career opportunities we were able to also discuss all the various construction related jobs depicted in the pictures. An excellent picture book for young children and a fun book to browse through for any age.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic pictures that follow the three years it took to construct a real building, this book has text that is simple enough to read to a preschooler, but advanced enough to give some real information to an older child, too. Several big worlds are used, but simple and clear definitions are given on the page so this could be a nice way to introduce some new vocabulary.

[Dionne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son loves all things construction and things with wheels, so he really enjoyed this book. I liked how it incorporated the MIT buildings in it since I'd been to Boston and seen them.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the content. Ugly architecture, though!!!

[babyhippoface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crisp, color photographs illustrate the many stages of constructing a building, from the architect’s plans and excavation to the installation of windows and fixtures. Concise text explains the basics of each stage and vocabulary words are printed in bold type and defined in sidebars. This extremely well-done title will satisfy young readers interested in big machines and construction.

[Monique Clem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Construction Zone
By: Cheryl Willis Hudson
Age: 4-8

This book is pretty neat. It takes you through the construction process. It gives you insight on what a construction worker wears to the tools they use to build a building and they big equipment vehicles they drive. Very cute book for little boys and even little girls that are interested in things like this, such as myself. :D

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

My preschool students enjoyed this book. They used the illustrations as reference when building with unit blocks in the Construction Area. I liked the book because Richard Sobol's photographs document the construction of the MIT Stata Center, which was constructed while I was living less than two miles away.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great photos, and a text simple enough to be read aloud to a curious preschooler. I also love the choice of building--Frank Gehry's Strata Center at MIT. These pictures make me wish I had been there to see the building process myself!

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great childlike analogies used on each page which makes this book more versatile over the ages it can appeal to.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

My toddler loved the photos and info in this book!!

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over and over and over and over...