MY BEST POP-UP CONSTRUCTION SITE BOOK

With an electronic rattle and roar, heavy machines dig and dump, haul and lift as an apartment building goes up.

Depicted in photographic images digitally buffed to a plastic sheen, a massive excavator, dump and cement trucks, heavy-duty forklifts, and other bright-yellow behemoths dominate each sturdy double-page spread. In peculiar contrast, the workers, who are of both sexes and show slight but perceptible differences in skin tone, are tiny, stylized toylike figures. Along with identifying their roles in the project, these workers bustle about the site making comments (“Look out everyone! This is a really big hole”)—and announcing that they’re off for coffee or lunch breaks. Readers accustomed to the conventions of comic strips will be puzzled to see that all of this dialogue appears to be internal, as it’s expressed in thought bubbles rather than speech balloons. Scene-expanding flaps and one gatefold add visual variety to each stage of the construction, and a chip embedded in the rear cover provides a few seconds of atmospheric engine noise with each push of a button.

Despite the sound effect, an unexceptionable addition to the fleets of like fare for diapered diggers.