How Was That Built?

The stories behind awesome structures

Publisher: Bloomsbury

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

Balloon to the Moon: The Story of the Human Journey to Space

Author: Gill Arbuthnott Illustrator: Christopher Nielsen

This is a clear and fascinating route through time in the evolution of the human desire to fly, and then explore space, presented in 13 page-turning chapters. Christopher Nielsen’s fabulous retro screen print-style illustration also elevate the whole thing to a work of art. 

Read more about Balloon to the Moon: The Story of the Human Journey to Space

Dr Maggie's Grand Tour of the Solar System

Author: Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock Illustrator: Chelen Écija

Space scientist Dr Maggie invites readers to join her on a grand space tour using their imaginations. This fantastic, imaginative reference book would be a wonderful resource in the classroom and treasured by any young person with an interest in space.

Read more about Dr Maggie's Grand Tour of the Solar System

Share this book with your friends

Use our Bookfinder to discover the perfect children's books for every age...