Transportation: From Then to Now

by Carol Lawrence, Ran Zheng (Illustrator)

There was no looking back after the wheel was invented. It allowed people to build carts to transport their goods and, eventually, those carts turned into means of transportation for people. But there were also horses, and donkeys, and bullocks for transporting goods and people. There were stagecoaches, and trains, and cars. And there were boats―all kinds of boats―and all kinds of airplanes. People are very good at inventing ways to make their lives easier, and transportation has always been at the forefront of the world of invention.

32 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2021

Reviews

[Paige]

My basic position on this is similar to that for the Homes entry in this series. (This book was published in 2021, and the author's note at the end felt the need to include the sentence "Although many people have stopped traveling or are traveling less now, transportation is still as important to us now as it has always been, and as it always will be.") This book also had some rather glaring clarity/continuity/sentence structure errors. Lastly, I would ask again, what age of child is supposed to be reading this?

[Shinae Wyckoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was perfect for introducing historical context in our history units in our homeschool (1st grade and pre-k). Elementary-aged children will enjoy the illustrations of these different modes of transportation throughout history, and the different ways people have used them.

[Little Batties · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was so dreadfully boring. I knew it was supposed to be more on the educational side, but it was so dry that I feel like it will be a struggle for the intended audience to want to read it from start to finish. It does contain simpler language that will make it easy to read, but there is also so much information all at once in a page that I can see kids checking out quickly. It should have been broken down more.

It was a rather disappointing read, and I'd be giving it 2.5 stars instead if it were possible. It might be useful in the classroom depending on the grade and lesson, but as a classroom tool, this might be better suited for higher elementary to middle school.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.