Review Detail

I was excited about this book. I have been a 'tree-hugger' since I was young, and still remember the Earth Day concert our sixth grade put on when I was around 12. The title appealed to me, but this book is hit or miss. I felt like it was a book made when I was in sixth grade, which was in 1992. The information included in this book is great: lots of neat and interesting facts about architecture, buildings, dams, dykes, bridges, and other structures that are huge feats of human engineering. If in possession of a child that is very science- and information-hungry, this book could be right up their alley. However, I also feel books have come a long way in aesthetics in the last two decades, and the layout, illustrations, and sadly, even the pictures fail to demonstrate that growth throughout the entirety of this book--hence my 1992 reference. The "scrapbook" layout just ended up being jumbled, and a lot of text was wasted space (i.e. the character Corry puts a sticker that has the location of the building and then adds, "the world, the universe.") I think some kids will be able to ignore this, but with such interesting and, I feel, pertinent information, I wish this book could have been taken to the next level in its layout.