The Great Big Book of Mighty Machines
Grade 3–6—This is a great big book full of all kinds of vehicles, but it has some great big problems. Each section opens with the question, "What is a bike?," …a car? …a train? …a dump truck? and then provides the answer in an easy-to-read text. However, the vocabulary is not consistent. Words such as "traction," "tread," "fertilizer," "insecticide," and "herbicide" are omitted, but "suspension" and "maneuverable" are used. Most problematic is the section on "Tractors and Farm Vehicles." The double-bladed plow that is shown is most likely of European origin and not usually seen in this country. The plowed ground is on the wrong side of the tractor and a plow does not make furrows or "chop up the dirt." Wheat is not "collected," it is harvested. The reel, the part that spins on the front of the combine, does not cut the grain stalk. The cut stalks are not sucked into the combine, but are augered to the center of the header and into the combine. In most cases, wheat straw is not baled. If it is baled, it is not used as fodder as it has very little food value. It most definitely is not cut by the baler. Oversimplified vocabulary and inaccuracies keep this book from being even a marginal purchase.—Eldon Younce, formerly at Harper Elementary School, KSCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.