Book Description

Whizzing and whistling, rumbling and grumbling, sloshing and squelching, flashing and crashing—the witty and wacky animal crew is back with four amazing machines all ready to leap from the pages of this rambunctious picture book.Young children won"t be able to get enough of the bright, bold, and zany illustrations, and will find the rhyming text so irresistable they will want to hear it over and over again. An informative, illustrated glossary answers all their questions about trains, diggers, fire engines, and rockets. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

My children love this book.
Both of my kids love looking at the pictures and love hearing about the big rigs.

Entertaining, educational and packed with marvelous pictures
All the wonderful machines that fascinate kids are featured in this book -- bulldozers, front-loaders, big shovels, backhoes, etc. -- each explained in a clear and entertaining style. Splendid illustrations fill every page, and are the gems that set this book apart from others, elevating it to the status of a classic. The pictures are chock-full of delightful details -- from little, surprised worms wiggling in dirt scooped by the bucket of a front-loader to a huge, snorting bull on the front of a "bull"dozer to a score of tiny turtles crewing a submarine. Every illustration totally enthralled my three-and-a-half year old grandson, who returned again and again to the book to study the pictures, for there is such rich detail in each that one cannot possibly see everything at the first reading. This is a book whose memory a child will always cherish. It is a book that parents might buy for their child, knowing it may well be saved, and someday passed on to the next generation as a special gift. ... Read more

Book Description

‘With the call of ‘Hey, you guys! Let’s get to work,’ women and men shoulder drills and picks, board cranes and cement mixers, and set their equipment bulldozing and steamrolling across vibrant page spreads. Barton generates the excitement of road and building construction for young sidewalk engineers.’ —BL.

1988 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
Notable 1987 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children 1987 (NSTA/CBC)
1987 Children's Books (NY Public Library) ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Again! again! again!
The toddlers in my life love this book and ask us to read it over and over again. Machines at Work follows some construction workers through a work day and through different phases of building. The illustrations are beautifully done - simple to understand what is going on and very interesting to these little persons learning more about the world around them.

I love this one!
Great pictures, colorful, gender-inclusive. My two year old can do this book start to finish from memory. We read it at least once a day, and construction has taken on a whole new attraction. (Makes road trips through those zones much more fun!)

So So
Its is better than some of the "truck" books out there but it's a bit pricey. Most truck books just identify lots of variations on backhoes but this one at least has a little bit of a story. However, to me it seemed a bit disjointed. First they worked on the road and then the building and then the road again. It tried to be sequential but somehow never came together. Also, it was disappointing not to see some final product (a finished building or road, etc). I would not have bought it if I could have looked through it in its entirety. I just relied on the reviews.

hey you guys! diggers and rubble rocks!
2 very different grandsons, each 18 months ADORE this book. one learned 'all the lines' within 24 hours! super illustrations and wonderful words to accompany each page! i've bought copies for every little boy i know!

Barton's books are awesome for toddlers learning to talk
I wish I had started buying these board books when my 2.5 year old was a baby. The text is simple and has a nice rhythym to it, and the illustrations are great. My son memorizes these books after requesting to hear them time after time. I'm sure he'll enjoy these books for a while longer. Regardless, they are great books...just don't wait until your child is four to buy them! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Another awesome Schimmel book
As a long time Schimmel fan, I was quite surprised, and delighted to see a pop-up book of his work. It is more beautiful than I could have imagined. Each picture combines several of his works, and since it is a pop-up book, his art almost comes alive.
If you are a Schimmel fan or just love animals you will not regret getting this book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Extreme Machines = extreme readers
This beginning reader has everything a beginning reader needs: interesting text (EXTREME MACHINES!), repetitive text, interesting pictures, and a dictionary to help with those unfamiliar words. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In Mill, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, David Macaulay pays tribute to the historically important mills of 19th-century New England. Using close-up pen-and-ink illustrations, Macaulay thoroughly explains the Yankee ingenuity that went into the elaborate process of running machines that were generated by the flow of water. In the case of this cotton mill in the imaginary town of Wicksbridge, Macaulay also demonstrates how important the mill was to a community's economic and social viability. In one scene, he shows the men and women celebrating the framing of the mill with a festive, barn-raising-style party. Macaulay tracks the mill's history, expertly explaining how all its new fixtures and materials reflect the political and industrial changes in the country. For example, in 1852 the owner sides with his abolitionist wife and shuns the use of "Negro cloth," inexpensive cloth made from slave-picked cotton. Instead he decides to start producing multi-colored, finer fabrics--a decision that leads to the expansion of the mill and the introduction of the steam engine. This is a finely woven offering, filled with technical intricacies and intriguing historical details. But ultimately, Macaulay's Mill is generated by the human story that led to the building of New England's cotton mills--as well as their eventual demise. (Ages 9 and older) --Gail Hudson ... Read more

Reviews (3)

To Whole Cloth
This is an important book. Written for children, it can be used just as effectively by adults to comprehend the beginnings of the industrial revolution in the United States. Learn and see how men tamed our rivers and how men, women and children were swallowed up in these great monuments to progress.

The illustrations are remakable. David Macaulay deftly describes and illustrates how the technology that made America a world industrial power came to the young new country and how American ingenuity improved it and made the nation into a world class economic juggernaut.

The author is a superb story teller, and anyone who would like to visualize the nature of mills and to understand the profound impact of this technology on our country should read it.

I highly recommend this great children's book to everyone.

Mill
A wonderful story that takes the reader through the life and times of an infant small village mill into the mature years of a 20th century factory-mill. Excellent illustrations, and fun storyline that allows the reader to become involved with the life of the mill. I loved it.

A Great Book
Mill is, simply put, remarkably well crafted. In it, David Macaulay gives us a brief history of the beginnings of the textile industry in America, walks us through the planning and construction of four successively more complex mills, lavishly illustrates the buildings, the machines and their power sources and, at the same time, manages to thoroughly convince us that we would never want to work in one.

This last trick is subtle and, to my knowledge, doesn't appear in any of the other books in this series. From Cathedral, City and, to a lesser extent, Castle, you get the distinct feeling that these were great and noble projects that you would have loved to have been a part of. You get this sense too from Mill, but the heady rush that comes with the idea of building something from the ground up is tempered by small, fictional diary entries that betray the harshness of life for those who worked in the mills after their completion.

Mill is a strong contender for a place in your personal and permanent library. It is beautifully illustrated, historically grounded, thoroughly researched, accented with social commentary and, most importantly, it is an enjoyable, absorbing read. ... Read more

Book Description

Look at all the things a tractor can do. It can move bales of hay around the farm. Run your fingers across the bale to feel just how rough it is. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

On of the best!!
My one year old son loves the things that go series by DK publishing and when he found the bigger version with new photos in it he had to have it. He actually sits still to look at it.

This book has traction!
My son loves tractors and trucks and cars and he loves his tractor book with wheels on it. If your little boy loves anything that digs or rolls or drives buy this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Bulldozers tear huge rocks from the ground. Tower cranes life heavy loads on bridges and in shipyards. Dig into GIANT MACHINES to learn more about these and many other powerful tools! ... Read more