It's that book that'll inspire you to stop at every construction site you see... and pull out the book on the spot to explain what you're watching. ​​

Book benefits:

• Combination of engaging illustrations and practical information mean your readers will be fascinated and learning at the same time!
• Flaps offer an impressive depth of information
• Sturdy hardcover binding and thick card stock pages will hold up to many, many readings
• Usborne Quicklinks page adds even more dimension with extra videos and games about construction process - definitely worth a look!

Buy Look Inside Construction Sites here! ($14.99, hardcover)

Want to check out more lift-the-flap books in the Usborne collection? You have about 70 to choose from! Peruse the collection here.

"This truck is used for mining. It's SO HUGE and HEAVY that it can't be driven on normal roads without damaging them." That's one of the many facts you'll be asked to read again and again as your kids fawn over this BIG book. My boys love trucks and excavators and helicopters and fire trucks and... well, you get the picture. So this book was an automatic winner! And I have to say, it's as fun for me to peruse, too - I am a big fan of books that will hold my interest when I'm reading them repeatedly with kids!

The Big Book of Big Machines (Usborne, written by Minna Lacey and illustrated by Gabriele Antonini) is full of energy. From the giant fold-out pages featuring giant machines, to the added emphasis through bolded words and caps, to the fun little dotted lines pointing out specific parts of the machines, the pages can't help but draw you in and make you excited about learning new facts. Oh, and the excavator crushing an old car with its claw on the first page doesn't hurt, either! My boys were hooked instantly.

Each page focuses on a different theme: mining machines, farm machines, flying machines - you get all sorts in this book. There are essentially seven pages, four of which fold out one way or another to highlight some of the biggest machines. And each page is packed full of interesting facts - one of the fastest trains is the JR-Maglev, which has reached a top speed of 361 miles an hour. An auger can drill 16 feet deep, as deep as an Olympic diving pool. The Mil Mi-26 helicopter can carry 100 passengers! 

It's that book you can only properly explore while sprawled out on the rug because the pages are so big. 

Book benefits:

• Each page features multiple machines and layered facts, which ensures hours of entertainment and inquiry
• Big fold-out pages will delight kids and add to the impressiveness of the machines
• The facts are bite sized, but there are a lot of them - so it's interesting for little ones to read without being overwhelming
• People are included with most illustrations to give an easy sense of proportion
• Hard cover and heavy duty cardstock pages mean the book will last!

Buy The Big Book of Big Machines here! (hardcover, $14.99)

• There are lots more available in the big book series, including bugs, tractors, animals, planets...

Click on the photos to get a sense of the BIG facts and illustrations:

"Mom, where's my blue flashlight?" This is a question I get daily from one of my boys or the other - they LOVE using flashlights. So naturally, the Shine-a-Light series was an instant hit in our house merely because they require the use of flashlights! But that's just the beginning of what makes them fun. 

These books are hardcover picture books with pages that alternate between full color and black and white. The full color page gives a fact and asks a question: "Three astronauts will travel to the space station in a spaceship. They will be in space for many months. Can you see what the train is pulling?" or "Silky threads catch the light. Who could have made this web?"