Curious Constructions: A Peculiar Portfolio of Fifty Fascinating Structures
Series: Uncommon Compendiums #3
Written by Michael Hearst
Illustrated by Matt Johnstone
Chronicle Books 4/01/2017
978-1-4521-4484-9
112 pages Ages 8—12
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“Curious about constructions? In the latest in the Uncommon Compendium series, you’ll come face-to-face with 50 incredible structures, including: a fire-breathing octopus sculpture; the skateboard ramp you’d need to jump the Great Wall of China; a whole community of tree houses in Costa Rica; and a lifesize X-Wing Starfighter built of Legos. These and many more fascinating accounts of constructions both fantastically useful and gloriously unnecessary await inquisitive readers, aspiring engineers, and anyone who ever looked at a skyscraper and thought, ‘Yeah, but what if it had a roller coaster on top?’” [PRESS RELEASE]
Review
[WC 359]
This third volume of the Uncommon Compendium Series brings structures of various size and shape to middle grade kids, and others who love the uniqueness and sometimes-absurd aspects of structures found around the world. Readers open to the Arecibo Observatory, the largest telescope with ears that can hear far into space, and then, a few page turns later, Biosphere 2. Anyone with an interest in science and the colonization of Mars will find Biosphere 2 interesting.
With fifty different structures in Curious Constructions, there should be something for everyone who reads this fantastic book. There are well-known structures, such as Stonehenge, the Great Barrier Reef, and Paul Bunyan with Blue. There are artistic structures, such as the Social Pool, a Lego™ X-Wing, and Desert Breath. And there are certainly the absurd, such as the Ryugyong Hotel, the North Yungas Road, and the Krzywy Domek (the Crooked House).
With each curious structure, the author adds a general history and then a range of items from a true & false quiz, interesting tidbits, fun facts, poems, and maps, among other entries. You will need to be extremely well versed in a particular structure to find nothing new in Hearst’s text. Rather than photographs—which would have been an easy option—the images are hand-drawn by Matt Johnstone.
Kids will find the entries in Curious Constructions eclectic. While I like most of the structures, I wondered what was “curious” about others. Kids will probably have the same reaction. Hearst includes entries from the well-known to the never-heard-of, which is bound to please every reader. His facts on each structure will get many kids thinking and wondering more about their world. What is glaringly missing, is a teacher’s guide. Curious Constructions will definitely be useful in the classroom.
All of these structures required imagination and creativity from those who conceived of the structure, to the engineers and the builders, right down to those who enjoy the structure today. Curious Constructions, and other books like it, can help kids see the world differently, open their eyes to new possibilities, and inspire them to create Curious Constructions of their own.
CURIOUS CONSTRUCTIONS: A PECULIAR PORTFOLIO OF FIFTY FASCINATING STRUCTURES (UNCOMMON COMPENDIUMS SERIES #3). Text copyright © 2017 by Michael Hearst. Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Matt Johnstone. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.
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Uncommon Compendium Series
Extraordinary People:
Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth’s Strangest Animals (2014)
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Illustrations from CURIOUS CONSTRUCTIONS: A PECULIAR PORTFOLIO OF FIFTY FASCINATING STRUCTURES (UNCOMMON COMPENDIUMS SERIES #3) by Michael Hearst copyright © 2017 by Matt Johnstone. Used with permission from Chronicle Books.
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Copyright © 2017 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved
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Curious Constructions: A Peculiar Portfolio of Fifty Fascinating Structures
Series: Uncommon Compendiums #3
Written by Michael Hearst
Illustrated by Matt Johnstone
Chronicle Books 4/01/2017
9781452144849
.
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