Architecture, Building, and Blocks

Byron Barton’s Building a House (HarperTrophy, 1990), with bright pictures and a brief text, traces the building process from digging a hole to finished house. For ages 3-6.

In Jonathan Bean’s Building Our House (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013), a family is moving from the city to the country – and they’re building their new house themselves, from the ground up. For ages 3-7.

Gail Gibbons’s How a House Is Built (Holiday House, 1996) moves from architect to foundation diggers, carpenters, plumbers, masons, electricians, painters, and landscapers, all with appealing and carefully labeled illustrations. For ages 4-8.

D.B. Johnson’s Henry Builds a Cabin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019) is one of a series of delightful picture books about Henry, a bear, who is Johnson’s version of writer/philosopher Henry David Thoreau. In this book, Henry cuts down twelve trees and makes himself a very small cabin, explaining to critical friends why his tiny house is really much “bigger than it looks.” For ages 4-7.

See many more resources on Henry David Thoreau.

James Gulliver Hancock’s How Cities Work (Lonely Planet Kids, 2016) is a wonderful introduction to skyscrapers, subways, sewers, apartment buildings, and construction sites, with lots of interactive flaps and fold-outs. For ages 5 and up.

From Nomad Press, the Explore Engineering series includes the creatively designed Bridges! (Jennifer Swanson), Canals and Dams! (Anita Yasuda), Tunnels! and Skyscrapers! (Elizabeth Schmermund), each with kid-friendly info, fact boxes, diagrams, and 25 related science projects. For ages 7-10.

Nomad Press’s Investigate Feats of Engineering series includes Donna Latham’s Bridges and Tunnels, Skyscrapers, and Canals and Dams, each with a timeline, Words to Know boxes, notable quotes, historical and scientific background information, and 25 hands-on projects. For ages 9-12.

David Macaulay’s Building Big (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004) is a fascinating account of the planning, design, and science behind bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, domes, and dams, all explained with Macaulay’s wonderful detailed illustrations. For ages 10 and up.

A five-part PBS series based on the book is available on DVD. The accompanying Building Big website includes basic info, a databank of Wonders of the World images, interviews with builders and architects, and activities, experiments, and challenges for kids.