The world's most iconic buildings are made accessible and exciting for young readers in this colorful introduction to architecture that changed the world. Children’s fascination with buildings is a natural outgrowth of their curiosity about anything strange or huge or complex. This unique book brings together thirteen architectural wonders that have intrigued children for years. Through activities such as games, quizzes, drawings and other activities, it teaches them the history behind each of the buildings, and presents fascinating facts about the design, historical use, and construction techniques. This book features pyramids built by men with pulleys, a tower that leans, an opera house shaped like a sailboat, a museum built like a spiral, and the most recent example, a "bird’s nest" stadium where the 2008 summer Olympics were held. Each of these buildings and more are introduced to young readers through lively texts and illustrations that will serve to heighten their interest and knowledge about the world’s most important architecture, and perhaps inspire them to dream and build on their own.
Several years ago, I bought this book for my daughter, along with 13 Artists Children Should Know and 13 Paintings Children Should Know. We read them all. This one is my favorite. I hope to read all three books through again with my daughter and husband, supplementing with online information. Virtual online tours of these buildings would be intriguing, fuel for conversation. We have seen 4 out of 13 of these buildings. I'd like to see them all, but I'm grateful for having seen those we visited.
This is such a fantastic book about architecture. My son couldn't believe that the Tower of Piza leans because the architects had never built a tower that tall before and didn't now that the foundation they'd laid couldn't bear the weight. And I didn't know that the Sydney Opera House was $90 million over budget and that the architect Jorn Utzon was so upset by how things were going that he left the country with the plans for the interior and didn't reconcile with Australia for 43 years. That's crazy!
Skimmed but looks great. Of course adults should know these, too. Several I knew only vaguely, and the most recent were entirely unfamiliar to me. Highly recommend to parents and other educators.
Contents: The Great Pyramind of Giza -- The Parthenon -- Notre Dame de Paris -- The Leaning Tower of Pisa -- The Tower of London -- Saint Peter's Basilica -- The Taj Mahal -- Neuschwanstein castle -- The Eiffel Tower -- The Chrysler building -- The Guggenheim Museum, New York -- The Sydney Opera house -- The Beijing National Stadium.
Summary: This book introduces 13 buildings children should know and explains them clearly. It tells you the most important things about each of the buildings and the architects who built them. A timeline gives you an overview of what was happening when they were being constructed, as well as both before and after. And in the glossary you'll find a useful explanation of the most difficult technical words.
The world's most iconic buildings are made accessible and exciting for young readers in this colorful introduction to architecture that changed the world. Children's fascination with buildings is a natural outgrowth of their curiosity about anything strange or huge or complex. This unique book brings together thirteen architectural wonders that have intrigued children for years. Through activities such as games, quizzes, drawings and other activities, it teaches them the history behind each of the buildings, and presents fascinating facts about the design, historical use, and construction techniques. This book features pyramids built by men with pulleys, a tower that leans, an opera house shaped like a sailboat, a museum built like a spiral, and the most recent example, a "bird's nest" stadium where the 2008 summer Olympics were held. Each of these buildings and more are introduced to young readers through lively texts and illustrations that will serve to heighten their interest and knowledge about the world's most important architecture, and perhaps inspire them to dream and build on their own.
What a fabulous and interesting book. 13 world famous buildings picked to represent 4,500 years of human history. Fascinating snippets about some of your favourite landmarks. The arches on the Eiffel Tower had to be put on after it was finished to make it more popular. Neuschwanstein Castle contains Germany's first indoor flush toilet. The Tower of London is actually constructed from stone from France, and has to have 6 ravens living there at any time so that both the Tower and the Empire won't fall down. Great stuff.
This book is a fantastic introduction to architechural concepts as well as the 13 famous buildings from around the world. With photographs and detailed illustrations of building plans, cross-sections, and imagined construction, the authors have thoughtfully considered how to explain things to young readers at a variety of levels. I also enjoyed the creative challenges throughout the book: draw the bird that might sit on the Bird's Nest, design the tallest building in the world, find columns in your own city that match the three different "orders" of columns. It's an all-around winner.
Loved this book! The author was very clever. Even though complex concepts were introduced, they were always concise with illustrations and a little bit of humor. My 6-year-old now knows the difference between Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns! The extra material, like websites, was great, too. We had fun exploring the Great Pyramid of Giza online.
This book brings together 13 architectural wonders. The book also provided historical background information, activities, and games, that makes learning about theses famous sites more fun. Great nonfiction book for children.
This was a great book to introduce kids to some of the really important architectural structures of the world. My kids loved it. It has given us some building blocks to talk about and learn from.