Construction Zone

Caution Construction zone ahead Anyone who has ever stopped to watch a big building going up -- and who hasn't? -- will be thrilled by this behind-the-scenes look at an amazing construction project. Put on your hard hat and step inside CONSTRUCTION ZONE Young readers are invited to come on a virtual tour of a building in progress, led by award-winning photographer Richard Sobol. It takes hundreds of workers, thousands of trucks and machines, and millions of nails and bolts to transform an idea on paper into an actual building in which people will live, play, shop, or work. Every single piece of the construction puzzle -- big and small -- must fit together flawlessly. With a clear, direct narrative and handy definitions of construction-related jobs, machines, and terms, Cheryl Willis Hudson distills this most complex of projects into language a young child can grasp. The building itself -- the Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank O. Gehry -- is playful and colorful, sculpted to excite, delight, and surprise. Richard Sobol's vivid color photographs capture all the excitement of the busy construction site, while offering a close-up view of its breathtaking genius.

Back matter includes an author's note.