Super Structures

From the Empire State Building to new wonders like Taipei 101 and the Burj Dubai, a beautifully illustrated book studies the world's most extraordinary engineering feats and record-breaking buildings.

Grade 4–8—Impressive illustrations and a wide assortment of facts introduce notable buildings from around the globe. Each spread is filled with illuminating photographs, diagrams, and drawings, along with informative captions. Each section opens with general information about a type of building. In "Palaces," for example, a spread includes a paragraph of introductory text along with six captioned photos of notable examples. The second spread of each section focuses on a particular building, with a single drawing spanning two pages. "The Arts," for instance, depicts Spain's Guggenheim Museum, with 19 small text boxes and several cutaway views highlighting key features such as the use of titanium tiles outside and Richard Serra's 100-foot sculpture (The Snake) inside. "Building blocks" spreads utilize photos, diagrams, and drawings to spotlight specific elements involved in the construction of the featured building. China's Terracotta Army, in the section on "Pyramids and Tombs," includes a floor plan of the emperor's tomb and a "production line" drawing that illustrates how the statues were pieced together. The eye-catching photos and drawings include foldouts for the Empire State Building and the Moscow Underground, adding to browser appeal, but the book is more than just a collection of captioned pictures. The consistent progression from general to specific combines the facts, figures, and images into a meaningful and comprehensible framework for young readers. Three incomplete captions found on one spread do not mar this otherwise quality title.—Steven Engelfried, Multnomah County Library, OR
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In typical DK visual-oriented style, this book presents many different types of man-made structures, beginning with wonders of the ancient world, and ranging all the way forward to Spaceport America, a commercial space-travel facility that is still in its planning and construction phases, with stops at castles, skyscrapers, bridges, towers, and more along the way. Each type of structure is given a general overview before focusing in on inviting spreads of specific examples, such as Neuschwanstein Castle and Hagia Sophia, former place of worship, now a museum. Each spread has a detailed, two-page illustration of the structure with multiple cutaways (a few are foldouts) and fact-bits peppered across the pages. This is followed by a “Building Blocks” section, which provides more photographs, design illustrations, light blueprints, and interesting trivia related to the highlighted structure. The scattershot design makes it all but impossible to read straight through, but readers with a developing interest in architecture or engineering or simply an appreciation for mankind’s most awesome constructions will find much to pore over here. Grades 5-8. --Ian Chipman