Bridges!: Amazing Structures to Design, Build and Test »

Describes different kinds of bridges, their history, design, construction, and effects on populations, environmental dilemmas, safety, and more.

Children's Literature

A bridge is a simple concept, but it can be very complex in the range of possible solutions. Planning a bridge and building it involves a great many people. This is the kind of book I loved as a kid, full of easy to follow projects with a lot of illustrations. Every phase of bridge building is explored from a variety of perspectives. Simple exercises demonstrate the workings of a range of types of bridges--suspension, beam, draw and arch. Using readily available household supplies, you learn how to build a cofferdam and see how bridges are built over water. Line illustrations are supplemented with photographs. This is a great way to get kids starting thinking about complex construction projects and the physics and planning involved. 1999, Williamson Publishing Co., Ages 7 to 14, $10.95. Reviewer: Kristin Harris