219. Construction Zone by Cheryl Willis Hudson

Construction Zone by Cheryl Willis Hudson. Photography by Richard Sobol.  (Canada) - (US)

Pages: 32
Ages: 5+
Finished: Sept. 26, 2011
First Published: 2006
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Genre: children, non-fiction, photo-essay, architecture
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

What do you see at the construction zone?

Acquired: Borrowed a copy from my library.

Reason for Reading: I am reading Richard Sobol's entire backlist with my son and discussing the life of a photographer/photojournalist as a career option while doing so.

Construction Zone is the only one of Richard Sobol's children's books which he did not write himself.  Sobol spent 3 years documenting the building of MIT's Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences.  Much of that work can be found in a book published by MIT itself.  This book includes photos Sobol took during that assignment.  The writing itself is written for a younger child than Sobol's own books and describes the work on a construction zone from architect to carpenters to masons to electricians and so on.  It has a very easy to read narrative with definitions at the bottom of each page that will delight the youngest of readers, especially boys who love to hang around when they see local construction at work.

Sobol's photography is absolutely brilliant and makes the book suitable for browsing by anyone of any age.  The Stata Center is one strange example of architecture and Sobol's fantastic photography make this the type of book to lay upon the coffee table for browsing.  Ds especially enjoyed this book, compared to Sobol's other nature books.  Since we are talking about career opportunities we were able to also discuss all the various construction related jobs depicted in the pictures.  An excellent picture book for young children and a fun book to browse through for any age.