Mighty, Mighty Construction Site
Written by Sherri Duskey Rinker
Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Chronicle Books  2/24/2017
978-1-4521-5216-5
32 pages    Ages 2—4

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“Down in the big
.     .construction site,
five trucks wake to
.   .  morning light!
They’re eager to get
.     .things underway.
There’s a brand new job
.     .to start today . . .

“But this new job is the biggest they’ve ever seen, and Excavator, Bulldozer, Crane Truck, Dump Truck, and Cement Mixer will need the help of new construction friends to get it done. Together, there’s nothing they can’t do!” [INSIDE JACKET]

Review
[WC 462]
The construction site trucks wake up to a new day and a new project. The new building will be the biggest they have ever constructed. The blueprint alone is huge. The team realizes they will need help, prompting Cement Mixer to blast its horn for help. Soon, five more construction vehicles are rolling into the site. Skid Breaker, though smaller than the rest, is a jackhammer on wheels. Flatbed Truck can haul an amazing fifty tons of steel. Front-End Loader works with Dump Truck to clear the land of unwanted dirt and rocks. Back Hoe grabs pipes, placing them into freshly dug trenches, and Pumper stretches high into the sky, aiming cement onto the top floors of the new building.

Now, there are ten construction vehicles working together, forming a Mighty, Mighty Supercrew!
Anyone who loves Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site will love its sequel, Mighty, Mighty Construction Site. Kids will love this huge construction crew Rinker calls a “Supercrew.” Her “playful rhyming text” flows nicely, making it a joy to read—and one book parents will not mind reading multiple times in a row.
Lichtenheld’s “vibrant illustrations” will dazzle readers young and old. These wonderful full spread images, created with Neocolor wax oil pastels on Mi-Teintes paper, are amazing! Not satisfied, Lichtenheld then sent the images off to Kristen Cella for digital “fine-tuning.” All I understand about the last two sentences is this: the final images are utterly amazing! (Yes, it bears repeating.) Open up to any spread and you can feel the dirt and see it sticking to the various trucks. Lichtenheld and Cella created a visually stunning and realistic landscape. Young children who play with trucks in a sandbox (or the dirt circle left in the ground once an above-ground pool is removed), will image their play areas to be these construction sites.

Oscar Wilde once said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” There are several other picture books flattering the night out of Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld by using the night-night-construction-sites (and trucks) theme. When you are at the top of your field—Mighty, Mighty Construction Site is a New York Times Notable Children’s Book—imitation will happen. For the youngest readers, Rinker and Lichtenheld released a set of board books in 2016. Steam Train, Dream Train Colors and Steam Train, Dream Train 1-2-3 (reviewed here).
What a Valentine’s Treat for little kids who fell in love with Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. These kids, and their parents, have been waiting for a sequel from this dynamic-duo. Well, no one will be disappointed! With its Valentine’s Day release, instead of stars, I give this adorable sequel 5 swelled hearts, one for each pair of construction trucks in Mighty, Mighty, Construction Site!

MIGHTY, MIGHTY CONSTRUCTION SITE. Text copyright © 2017 by Sherri Duskey Rinker. Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Tom Lichtenheld. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.

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Teacher’s Guide is HERE.

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Reprinted with permission from MIGHTY, MIGHTY CONSTRUCTION SITE © 2017 by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Chronicle Books. Illustrations © 2017 by Tom Lichtenheld.

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Copyright © 2017 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Mighty, Mighty Construction Site
Written by Sherri Duskey Rinker
Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Chronicle Books 2/24/2017
9781452152165