Zoom Along at the Construction Site
Zoom Along at the Construction Site
As in As in Zoom Along, Zoom Along at the Construction Site is an interactive board book that employs a die-cut hole and a mirror on the inside of the book’s front and back covers. Youngsters are invited to look through the hole at the mirror and to become the face of the driver of one of 10 vehicles that are being employed in the construction of a building.
Each page in this board book features one of Phillips’ uncluttered illustrations of a single vehicle that might typically be found on a construction site. The simple one line text appears at the bottom of each page. What is particularly effective is that Phillips has utilized the first person so that the child “reader” becomes each vehicle’s driver and explains what her/his vehicle’s function is.
I haul dirt with a front loader.
or
I move bricks with a forklift.
Additionally, at the top of each page, one or two “sound” words that might be associated with operating the vehicle appear. For example, pouring concrete from a concrete mixer produces a “Swoosh!” sound while hoisting a beam with a crane results in a “Whoosh!”
The surprise in Zoom Along at the Construction Site is that it concludes by asking readers a question on the penultimate page, “What did I build?”, before inviting them to turn the page; “Let’s see...”. And the answer is – a library.
The closing spread reveals the completed library building, and arrayed around it are the 10 machines that were used in its construction. Since the vehicles are not captioned, the closing pages can be used as a review of the names of the vehicles encountered earlier in the book.
Like Zoom Along, Zoom Along at the Construction Site contributes to vocabulary growth, and it belongs in home collections as well as libraries serving preschoolers.
Dave Jenkinson, CM’s editor, lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.