A quaint little text with simple words enjoyed by young children. This book slotted nicely into a large construction based interest of my class. I enjoyed the diversity and variety of job roles. Overall my class enjoyed the book, although they showed a bit of a divide in their interests. Several began strong and enjoyed the clear words they could read and follow, however, lost interest in the story when the pattern changed to listing job roles. Others in my class enjoyed the book from start to finish, as they do with anything which relates to construction or building.

When their father leaves his lunch behind one day, two children pursue him to his construction work site, witnessing the building and breaking, breaking and building, that together make up the process of creating structures...

With a minimal text and his signature eye-popping artwork, author/illustrator Steve Light crafts a lovely picture-book tribute to the creation of architectural wonders in Builders & Breakers. His afterword, which contains more text than the entire rest of the book, discusses his love of classical, Gothic and art deco styles of architecture. Having greatly enjoyed Light's Have You Seen My Dragon? and Have You Seen My Monster?, I really appreciated this one, with its return to that same illustrative style. I don't know that I would have followed the 'story' that well, if I hadn't already known what it was going in, but leaving that issue aside, this is one I would recommend, both to Steve Light fans, and to any child who enjoys tales about construction sites and/or the construction process. ( )

Working off of a child's love of construction, the book is nearly guaranteed to appeal to younger readers. The story itself is simple with effective repetition to emphasis the building/breaking vocabulary. The artwork truly shines and brings the concepts to life. It is the layers of color and texture that really capture the readers' eyes. ( )

This is the cutest little book. I have a young son and he loves to build things. I entered this book giveaway because of him. When it came in I was so excited to read it with him. Now it is one of his favorite books.

If you know a little builder, they will love this book. When a young brother and sister need to take lunch to their father working at an urban construction site, they have all kinds of adventures along the way, seeing how people build large buildings in the city—huge construction tools and machines. The illustrations are charming, the pictures tell the story so a child does not even have to read to enjoy it, even very young children will enjoy it. And, the builders are not just white men, there are some women and builders of different races/ethnicities too. ( )

I received this book for free from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

This one was a sleeper hit in my house. I read it for bedtime once or twice when I first got my review copy, but the six-year-old and four-year-old never asked for it again. That is the metric I use most of the time for children’s books, so I set this one aside for a bit.

Then, the nearly-two-year-old started asking for this. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, he is big into trucks and construction right now. Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site is another current favorite.

I think he also likes the narrative device of the two children looking for their father at the construction site, which runs in parallel to the text, a story told almost entirely in pictures. He gleefully shouts “DAD!” when we get to the page where the children finally catch up to their father with his forgotten lunch.

For my own part, I enjoy Steve Light’s fanciful drawings. He has a note in the book where he admits to a fascination with classical, Gothic, and Art Deco architecture. This results in a style of illustrated buildings that is only loosely grounded in any project that has ever seen the light of day, but is quite striking.

This is the kind of book that has enough going on to keep me from going crazy when I read it twice in a row every night for weeks on end. Thanks Steve. ( )

Simple text ( )

Fun and funky illustrations with simplistic text for young readers. The art style itself makes this book worth a look. For small children who show an interest in construction or taking things apart.

LT Early Reviewer ( )

This is a cute book for young children. My two year old wants it read continuously. Not too many words for young readers. I like that there are realistic depictions of people. ( )

My five-year-old son is pretty obsessed with all things construction-related. He is also just starting to read, so this is a great book for us to share together. The simple, repetitive text is very appropriate for his age, and he spends a lot of time poring over the illustrations. This one's a hit in our home! ( )

This simple book delivers more than you would expect at first glance. It is a construction book and a concept book. It is also a look and find book. The story starts on the title page, continues to the verso and dedication pages. On these pages Mom discovers Dad left home his lunchbox and sends the children to bring it to to him. Dad is a construction worker and the children look for him at a big construction site. Readers will enjoy looking for both the children and the father on each page. The concept of build and break runs throughout the narrative. This book is an excellent choice to read together and pour over the pictures. ( )

A fun little book, with a brevity of words since the story is told mainly through the busy pictures. I would recommend this for toddlers and preschoolers rather than grade school. ( )

Wonderful book! My three year old loves it. Beautifully illustrated with lots of details and limited words, Steve Light tells the story of construction workers who "break" down old structures in order to "build" new ones, through the eyes of two children taking their father the lunch pail he forgot at home. I'll be honest that when we got to the end, where the dad lifts the children onto a steel beam (and they are not wearing hard hats), my first thought was OSHA violation and serious liability. But, it's all in good fun in this cute book where you are not supposed to notice such things. ;) ( )

A simple yet fun picture book about the people in construction-- builders and breakers. Using alliteration, onomatopoeia, and vivid illustrations, Steve Light brings the busy world of building things to life. What I like is the deeper message that building things always involves breaking something, but hopefully for the good. ( )

We're big fans of Steve Light's work around here! My kid adores his sound-effect based books. This one is similar, but not quite the same as the others. It's the kind of fun book that little kids adore because the pictures are busy but understandable, and the sounds are simple but fun. I'm pretty sure my kid's love of vehicles came out of Steve Light's books, and I love that this one has more of a story to follow than the usual sound-effect books I'm familiar with. Great fun, especially for very little ones. ( )