Demolition

Sutton’s rhythmic text, full of onomatopoeia and muscular action words, captures the excitement and energy of big trucks hard at work and powerful machinery bashing concrete and metal. Lovelock’s meticulous illustrations, rendered in pigmented ink, give the job site a suitably dusty patina and put the equipment and vehicles center stage, where young fans will want them...This is all about as good as it gets for truck-obsessed preschoolers.

The text is rife with onomatopoeic phrases and action verbs, making it great for reading aloud and building vocabulary. Lovelock’s pigmented ink illustrations capture details about the machines–from treads to gears–in a style that is graphic and yet painterly. The geometric nature of the construction equipment offers another avenue for engaging children with the book.

Smashing good fun for preschoolers of both genders.

A visually and verbally emphatic delight for younger readers who are stuck on trucks.

The bright red and yellow vehicles pop out from the dappled and speckled blue-hued settings, and Lovelock's crisp ink line delineates rivets, hydraulics, and heft. It's clear that for all the pointing and switching and even driving that humans do, the real magic is in the ruthless efficiency with which these engineering marvels collide and gnaw into a hapless structure.

Building things: good. Knocking things down: better. This onomatopoetic homage to destruction finds a multicultural and mixed-gender crew of workers suiting up at the job site, swinging a wrecking ball, chomping through concrete and rebar, ramming down walls, hosing dust, crushing stone, chipping wood, sorting steel scrap, and clearing the way for an urban play lot.

"This is all about as good as it gets for truck-obsessed preschoolers."