The Great Big Book of Mighty Machines

by Jean Coppendale, Ian Graham

Overview

A richly illustrated book about the big machines kids love.

Kids love big machines: watching real machines do real work, playing with toy machines, reading and talking about all kinds of machines. The bigger, the better!

The Great Big Book of Mighty Machines is one big and mighty book about the massive moving machines that kids love: monster trucks, dump trucks, fire trucks, tractors, big bikes, cranes, trains and airplanes! One big bundle of mightiness.

Vivid color photographs of machines at work jump off the page. Large, easy-to-read type describes the machines, their parts and what they are used for. Red arrows point out special features. Glossaries explain essential terms, and suggested activities, like quizzes, "what to draw" and "pick the picture," add to the fun.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554075218
Publisher:	Firefly Books, Limited
Publication date:	09/03/2009
Series:	Mighty Machines
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Jean Coppendale has been involved in children's book publishing for many years, producing, editing and writing both fiction and non-fiction, including several successful series.

Ian Graham is a science and technology expert. He has written more than 200 books on subjects ranging from space exploration and aircraft and military technology to astronomy, transportation and forensic science.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Bikes
What is a cycle?
Superbikes
Motocross
Easy riders
Quad bikes
Scooters
Off-road bikes
Racing bikes
BMX bikes
Activities

Cars
What is a car?
Everyday cars
Sports cars
Supercars
On the race track
In the city
Carrying more
Going off-road
Luxury cars
Activities

Trains
What is a train?
Train travel
Steam trains
Freight trains
Everyday trains
Skytrains
Water — no problem!
Express trains
Sleeper cars
Activities

Tractors
What is a tractor?
Watch those wheels!
Preparing the fields
Sowing the seeds
Taking care of crops
Harvest time
Collecting wheat
Baling hay
Pull, tractor!
Activities

Fire trucks
Quick! Emergency!
Help! Fire!
Forest fires
Airport accidents
Harbor Firefighter
Ocean rescue
Send an ambulance!
Police on the way!
Motorcycle patrol
Activities

Dump trucks
What is a dump truck?
Diggers
Trucks
Dump trucks
Loaders
Concrete mixers
Bulldozers
Cranes on wheels
Roadbuilders
Tunnelers
Long trucks
Logging trucks
Activities

Monster trucks
What are monster trucks?
Bigfoot monster trucks
Car crushers
Monster racers
Truck stunts and tricks
Monster stars
Road giants
Monster miners
NASA's giants
Activities

Glossary
Index

Editorial Reviews

This picture-book-size, photo-packed volume offers a visual feast for young gearheads.... The images that are the main attraction here, and interested kids will be entranced by the multiple color photos of machines at work on each page. A list of suggested activities closes each section and invites interactive fun, but this title will find its largest audience among young browsers, including preschoolers, who will simply want to flip through the pages again and again and lose themselves in this gallery of mechanical marvels.

Booklist - Gillian Engberg

Gr 3–6—This is a great big book full of all kinds of vehicles, but it has some great big problems. Each section opens with the question, "What is a bike?," …a car? …a train? …a dump truck? and then provides the answer in an easy-to-read text. However, the vocabulary is not consistent. Words such as "traction," "tread," "fertilizer," "insecticide," and "herbicide" are omitted, but "suspension" and "maneuverable" are used. Most problematic is the section on "Tractors and Farm Vehicles." The double-bladed plow that is shown is most likely of European origin and not usually seen in this country. The plowed ground is on the wrong side of the tractor and a plow does not make furrows or "chop up the dirt." Wheat is not "collected," it is harvested. The reel, the part that spins on the front of the combine, does not cut the grain stalk. The cut stalks are not sucked into the combine, but are augered to the center of the header and into the combine. In most cases, wheat straw is not baled. If it is baled, it is not used as fodder as it has very little food value. It most definitely is not cut by the baler. Oversimplified vocabulary and inaccuracies keep this book from being even a marginal purchase.—Eldon Younce, formerly at Harper Elementary School, KS

School Library Journal

A vehicle-lover's dream come true, this meaty volume focuses on cars, bikes, trains, tractors, rescue vehicles, construction trucks and monster trucks. Each section (which is divided into subtopics, one per double-page spread) ends with an activity page encouraging readers to identify photos, answer comprehension-type questions and complete some creative challenges such as drawing an original vehicle and writing a story about it or making a collage. While a few terms may be new to American readers (train "wagons" instead of "cars" and "MPV" instead of "van"), for the most part the text is easy to read and understand. Brightly colored page edges draw eyes inward to the exciting full-color photos that fill the pages, many of them showing the featured vehicles in motion (and offering the occasional adult-pleasing tidbit, as with a potato harvester brand-named "Spudnik"). Both glossary and index are extensive; the youngest grease monkeys will feel completely fulfilled by the heft and breadth of this tome. (Nonfiction. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews