For any child who loves to build things, there are two especially good books that came out this year that would be perfect gifts.
STEVEN CANEY'S ULTIMATE BUILDING BOOK by Steven Caney covers absolutely anything and everything you'd ever want to know about construction and engineering from facts to actual how-to's.
Another good read is SKY BOYS: HOW THEY BUILT THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING by Deborah Hopkinson. This is an up close and personal look at how the then tallest building ever, was built. It's full of interesting facts and great illustrations.
Of course you can't leave out THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS, the 2004 Caldecott Winner by Mordicai Gerstein. The art work is absolutely stunning. You feel as if you are high above the streets on a thin tightrope stretched between the towers. The book honors the memory of Phillipe Petit, the "man who walked between two towers", and the memory of the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
Add a set of architectual blocks and you've got a winner of a gift!
Good building words: construction; architecture; angle; pyramid, span,
flying buttress.
