How Was That Built?: The stories behind awesome structures
by Roma Agrawal, illustrated by Katie Hickey
Interest age: 8 to 11
Reading age: 8+
Published by Bloomsbury, 2021
About this book
Roma Agrawal, the award-winning structural engineer who worked on The Shard, presents a book for children exploring famous structures from all over the world and analysing how engineers resist forces such as gravity and tides when building.
Agrawal examines structures like The Brooklyn Bridge, The Katse Dam and The Burj Khalifa among other fascinating, well-known structures, and explains how you build tunnels, domes, on ice, in the sea, and even in outer space! She also profiles some of the engineers that worked on these famous structures, from Emily Warren, who managed the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, to Marc Brunel, who built the first tunnel under the river Thames.
Illustrated in fascinating detail by Katie Hickey, this is a truly brilliant book for any child interested in skyscrapers, big bridges and sports stadiums. There’s a good level of how-to information here as well as a handy glossary and a run-down of future building methods such as biomimicry, robotics, self-heating concrete, virtual reality and 3D printing. Fascinating stuff.
More books like this
-
Farting Fish
by Alice Harman, illustrated by Sam Wedelich
5 to 14 years
-
A Wild Child's Guide to Nature at Night
by Dara McAnulty, illustrated by Barry Falls
5 to 14 years
-
Score Like a Striker
by Ben Lyttelton
5 to 14 years
-
Become a Genius in a Year
by Mike Rampton, illustrated by Gareth Williams
5 to 14 years
Lists of recommended reads
-
Art and creativity
Books are a wonderful way to introduce children to art and creative exploration. They can encourage readers to see their own potential and break down barriers to creativity by demonstrating that everyone is an artist, no matter their experience level. Many stories also highlight the power of expression and its positive effect on emotional wellbeing – something which is especially important for children who find it hard to discuss their feelings.