Machines Go to Work in the City

As I try desperately to hide and pack away all the simplified board books about trucks and machines, my nearly 3 year old is still desperately begging me to read them. With the passing of the two's comes a greater attention span, an ever broadening vocabulary, along with a more gentle hand and a tangible appreciation for the book as an object. And so, for the big 3rd birthday, I went in search of some upgraded hardcover books about machines and trucks to add to our library. Ones without buttons or touch and feel features, that would still appeal to the toddler. Alas, This book has it all! First and foremost, the gorgeous, stunning illustrations are some of the most beautiful, colorful, and ARTFUL ones I have seen in a child's book. Real art, real paintings, offer a real feeling and experience. And I do so appreciate that. The level of detail is truly amazing and utterly captivating. The use of color, contrast and light in William Low's paintings(they appear to be done in oil), are nothing less than fine art. And why shouldn't they be...even if it is for a child?The art alone makes this book worth buying, but the giant fold outs on every other page offer the young child an interactive experience that they so crave. Each is preceded by a simple question, and the simple answer is revealed as the pages are intuitively opened up, down, and over. Be warned, that this is not a book to leave out for your rough child to manhandle; this is one to read and experience together as you guide your little one. The final fold out is a grand finally that rivals any pop-out I have seen, and left me in awe. I won't spoil it for you...you really should see it for yourself.The language and text is rhythmic, but not in a sing-song way, and there is just enough sound effects to satisfy any boy or girl who needs to go "vroom!" You are looking at about 10-15 words per page, so this is not a very long story, but long enough to settle the wild child before bed. The last two pages have a small illustration of each of the machines that that were featured in the book, with diagram style details so that you can further investigate these everyday machines with your little sponge. They are BETTER than photographs.I am so impressed with this book, and absolutely thrilled to add this to our home library. It will most certainly be cherished. I highly recommend this one to any young vehicle/machine lover, boy or girl, and would say that the ideal age is 3-5, although sooner or later would be fine too. Oh...and the garbage truck on the cover is the opening sequence, which is the reason this one caught my eye. My son is garbage truck obsessed, and as much as I love "I Stink" and "Smash, Mash, Crash, there goes the Trash," I really could stand a break from these perennial favorites! Thank you Mr. Low for taking it up a notch for our kids!

This book showcases several big machines with colorful illustrations that will be the delight of 3-5 year olds. The pages even fold out so that the reader can see how large the machines are in respect to buildings and people. Just the right amount of text provides the story. As this was the paperback version I was a bit disappointed that it was not made out of sturdier card stock paper. As it is, this is a book that will be best used with an adult demonstrating good care of a book. If i had known there was such a difference, I would have purchased the hardcover version so it will better hold up to use by tiny hands.

Bought this because my three year old son DESTROYED the library's copy in a moment of quiet naughtiness during "nap time". And that's too bad, because all the fold-outs that make this book cool also make it not a great option in the public library. But the concept is really fun and well done especially, for kids about this age who can be obsessed with machinery and trucks.

My son LOVES this book. I love the paintings. After keeping it too long from the library, we finally had to buy it.To the author: Silas' only gripe with the book is that there's a picture of a street sweeper on the inside title page, but no actual section with a page flap that talks about it... You may want to consider adding this in the next edition. ;)

Really good illustrations of a variety of trucks and machines that operate in a city - absolutely fascinating for a child of the right age. I liked that there was a description, followed by a question, which was answered by a fold-out page. In addition, the pages fold out in an appropriate direction for the action of the machine or truck.

So, my kid really likes this book, especially the "aerial photograph" view at the end where he can find all of the machines working around the town, and the technical drawings at the back where different points of each machine featured in the book are pointed out.Unfortunately, the writing leaves something to be desired. Good children's writing should be punchy and roll off the tongue, but with this book I often choose to ignore most of the text and just point out things in the pictures. Definitely not as good as Good Night, Good Night Construction Site, or Steam Train, Dream Train.

We gave this to our 2 year old son for his birthday and it quickly became his favorite book. The pages fold out and the illustrations are wonderful. He asks to read it before bed every night and I hear him reading it to himself whenever he's looking through books. I don't mind reading it over and over again as well. Looking forward to trying out the second one, Machines Go To Work in the City.

We have checked this book out of the library so many times, I had to finally add it to the wish list. My 2.5 year old boy/girl twins love the illustrations as well as the writing. It is simple and beautiful - a bonus for parents who are made to read the same thing over and over again. My kids never tire of this book and neither do I.

My son calls it the Garbage Truck book. One of his favourites. He's 3 and loves listing to me reading it to him. He loves the fact that some pages can be opened further to enhance the story.