Shape Up, Construction Trucks! (Big, Little Concepts #1)

by Victoria Allenby (Author)

Shape Up, Construction Trucks! (Big, Little Concepts #1)
Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

An engaging, multilayered book that helps little ones identify shapes on their favorite construction-site vehicles

Dump Truck, Dump Truck

Coming through!

I spy a triangle--how about you?

It's no secret that toddlers of any gender love big vehicles. Shape Up, Construction Trucks! uses rhyming verse and bright photographs to celebrate this enthusiasm in a unique take on conceptual shape books. Each spread highlights geometric shapes hiding in plain sight on excavators, bulldozers, cranes, and more. And after the toddlers have browsed the pages to their heart's content, a final note to parents offers enriching, age-appropriate activities to keep building their child's foundational skills.

By kindergarten, most children should have developed the spatial sense to identify shapes in real-world environments. Shape recognition lays the foundation not only for geometry, but for learning to recognize letters and numbers as well. With repetitive, easy-to-remember verse from the award-winning author of Nat the Cat Can Sleep Like That, Victoria Allenby's Shape Up, Construction Trucks! is a highly visual shape book that digs deep.

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Kirkus

Starred Review
Storytime gets a kick in the pants with this jaunty combo of shapes and vehicles....Clear, crisp, clean, and concise--trucks and shapes have never before looked (or sounded) this good.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

PreS-K--This picture book uses images of real construction vehicles to teach various shapes. Each spread depicts construction vehicles on construction sites, including dump trucks, mixers, and cranes. A rhyming prompt asks readers to find a certain shape on each vehicle. "Lifting hook / Lifting hook / Coming through! / I spy a diamond -- / How about you?" Large photos, bold type, and color-specific shapes serve as wonderful aids for young readers to strengthen their identification skills. The repetitive text encourages children to read along with the story. The back matter provides age-appropriate geometry activities. VERDICT Sure to be a hit with collections and storytimes.--Anna Taylor, Chattanooga, TN

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Praise for Shape Up, Construction Trucks!

Allenby's book is almost too good for its very simple premise....As the Kirkus review pointed out, you could do a whole storytime and sing this book to the "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" song and make a whole construction production out of it!—Elizabeth Bird, A Fuse #8 Production

Combining these two concepts - construction and shapes - is a novel idea and is effective at building vocabulary in both areas....Shape Up, Construction Trucks! is a simple book executed well.—CM Magazine

This book covers so many different topics all in one book!...The book allows a parent to increase the difficulty of the book based on the readers reading level at the time....What I love the most about this book is at the end it gives parents different ways to read through the book. That is so helpful for parents who are often looking to get the most for their dollar on every item they purchase for a child.—Youth Services Book Review

This fun picture books uses the interest that many children have in construction equipment to teach them about shapes....I always love picture books that combine fun and learning and this is a good example.—Canadian Bookworm

A bright, bold, and fun story...With a terrifically clean and clever layout relying on rhyme and repetition, each page spread focuses on introducing one truck and one shape...Likely to be a hit during read aloud time and/or with readers who adore anything related to trucks or construction vehicles...—Fab Book Reviews

Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781772782158
Lexile Measure
440
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Pajama Press
Publication date
September 14, 2021
Series
Big, Little Concepts
BISAC categories
JNF042000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Poetry | General
JNF057030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Transportation | Cars & Trucks
JNF013070 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Concepts | Size & Shape
JNF035050 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Mathematics | Geometry
Library of Congress categories
Trucks
Construction equipment
Shapes
Mathical Book Prize
Honor Book 2022
CCBC
Selection 2021
Math Books for Kids
Selection 2020
CBC Books
Selection 2020

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