CONSTRUCTION ZONE

From Hoban (Just Look, 1996, etc.), a series of full-page color photographs of construction machinery at work, from a rubber-tired backhoe to a crane with clamshell bucket. There are two pictures of each, one a full view and the other a close-up, most of which are noticeably grainy, lacking the crisp quality associated with Hoban's work. All feature her trademark saturated color, and indeed this book functions as a color concept book, with its succession of red, yellow, and orange behemoths (the blue garbage truck, not exactly in the class of construction machinery, ostensibly takes away rubbish from the site). The names of the machines provide the only text in the main section; a picture glossary includes brief notes on the 13 machines featured. While not as tight as Hoban's other concept books, this will be a winner with kids who have devoured Byron Barton's Machines at Work, Anne Rockwell's Big Wheels, and B.G. Hennessy's Road Builders and who now want real pictures. (Picture book/nonfiction. 3-7)