Building site zoo by Sophie Masson

Ill. by Laura Wood, Lothian, 2017. ISBN 9780734417534
(Age: 4+) Building. Machinery. Animals. Verse. Walking to school is enhanced by looking closely at the machinery along the way. Granddad and the two children do not see just the machines but change them to animals that replicate the work the machine does. So the bulldozer becomes a bull, flattening the earth and churning it up with a mighty roar. The man using a jackhammer to deconstruct a cement balcony becomes a kangaroo, bouncing up and down and waking the town. The cement mixer becomes a huge hippo, churning all in his big mouth into a creamy sauce, and the cranes are giraffe, stretching their long necks down to the ground.
Each machine and animal are represented in rhyming stanzas, encouraging children to predict the rhyming word at the end of each doublet, and learning the line to repeat with the reader. Pleasing bright illustrations will attract the younger readers and the whole encourages a creative and imaginative look at a building site.
Fran Knight