Dig, dump, roll by Sally Sutton

Ill. by Brian Lovelock. Walker Books, 2018 ISBN 9781760650056
(Age: 3+) Highly recommended. Themes: Machinery. School. Workers. The building of a school is shown in new light as the different machines are brought in to help in its construction. First is the bulldozer, crashing, rumbling, crashing and grumbling as it clears the ground. In two rhyming sentences the author distills the work done by this great machine, ending with the word that describes the machine and the refrain, 'coming through!'
From there other machines are described just as pithily, with the repeated 'here's a clue' and 'coming through', inviting children to yell these out as the book is read to them.
The bulldozer is followed by the digger, then the dump truck, roller, concrete mixer and finally the builders, building a school.
Each page is brightly illustrated with lots for children to recognise and ask about. The builders are all enveloped in fluoro vests and hard hats, inviting discussions about safety, each machine is wonderfully drawn, inviting children to look more closely at its separate parts, the builders are shown working with the machines to get the job done.
The first two lines of each stanza about a particular machine is full of movement and action, inviting students to move along with the words or sound them out.
I can imagine groups of kids having a great deal of fun with this story, moving, yelling, predicting, learning lines, making the noises of the machines and finally building the school. On the last page is an outline of the machines presented in the book with further information about their parts. Readers will love it.
Fran Knight