Simms Taback Books - Road Builders

School Library Journal Large busy pictures and a simple declarative text introduce children to the process of building a road. The focus is on the vehicles involved, depicting them all together and then individually or in pairs as the project unfolds. Taback's cartoon illustrations show the multiethnic crew at work and a flatbed truck carrying them to the next job when the highway is completed. This book is a good choice for both beginning readers and preschool construction buffs. It is simpler than Gail Gibbons's New Road! (Crowell, 1983) and the drawings are larger and more detailed. Some of the same equipment is described in Ken Robbins's Power Machines (Holt, 1993), but that book doesn't show the building process. Review by Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ

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Publishers Weekly This soup-to-nuts explanation of how roads are constructed begins in an empty field and ends on a busy freeway, and it offers just the right amount of information for its intended audience. Readers watch as members of a road crew bulldoze, dig, dump, grade, pave, roll, paint, mark and light a new roadway--and then drive off into the sunset to their next job. Bolstered by Hennessy's ( Jake Baked the Cake ) concise text, Taback's ( On Our Way to the Forest! ) bold, attention-grabbing colors and oversized, up-close-and-personal illustrations are action-packed and will thrill young truck-lovers everywhere. It's a splendid introduction to a world that many children find riveting.

Childrens Literature In this book, Buddy, John, Ed, Fran, Joe, Jessie and Chuck are building a road. Each step of the process and the trucks used are explained simply but clearly. With a minimum of text and lots of bright cartoon-like illustrations, this book is sure to be popular with youngsters in the "how do they make . . .?" phase. The stars of the book are the trucks; this will be another surefire hit with the preschool set.

First You*ll Meet The Crew...
First you’ll meet the crew... then you'll see all the trucks up close - cement mixers, bulldozers, dump trucks, graders, pavers - and learn what each one does. And finally, you'll watch a bustling new road come to life!
— from the Publisher