THE GREAT BIG BOOK OF MIGHTY MACHINES

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)