What Can a Crane Pick Up? Board book – September 23, 2014

(Cross Post from an Earlier Goodreads Review Shared Here by the Reviewer)Rebecca Kai Dotlich's WHAT CAN A CRANE PICK UP is a delightful little book that would pair well with the popular books about construction like GOODNIGHT GOODNIGHT, CONSTRUCTION SITE, Gail Gibbons's HOW A HOUSE IS BUILT, and BUILDER GOOSE, a charming little book of rhymes about construction.What Rebecca Kai Dotlich has created here is a book that speaks to the Tonka truck set. Those lovable little ones who are still stacking blocks to make towers, turning handles to operate string operated cranes and scoops, and plowing paths with bulldozers, believing that one day they may be behind the sticks that make these big machines move.WHAT A CRANE CAN PICK UP invites itself to be read aloud. I think this is the only way to catch the sly little rhythms that Rebecca has built into the text the way a masterful children's poet can and will (and an underwear reference will carry it to six stars for knowing and speaking to the demographic here). What happens here is a question that might read like, "What can the listener 'pick up' in what the author has left behind to be discovered?"Well. . .really nothing if we are not inviting young readers, especially our younger guy readers to scoop into the lines, to pull them to their ear like a cup fashioned by a string to the author's intent, plowing ahead into other collections of verse that deal in machinery and mechanization.Mike Lowry's illustrations give a little personality to the cranes depicted within. The cranes remind me, as I am sure they will younger readers, of the ever-grinning Lego figures that come with the building kits. I love the businessmen in suits on a pallet along with cowboy boots.Go back. Read this aloud to yourself again. Deepen your voice a little. Give yourself a little English accent and hear what Rebecca has really created with this charming little book. Don't stop on the page; hit that rhythm and you will see what makes this deceptively-simple book really sing. . .or if you will. . ."move."Okay. Now, watch. . .this is how we bring this one all of the way up to the secondary level.Isn't this book an invitation to think about classical invention? Really? Listen to the title. . .what can a __________ _____________? Upon closer inspection, we see Rebecca being a little light-hearted and silly with the crane, but what can _______ do? Or __________ (fill these in with student interests and you have a wonderful introduction to how to shape a topic for research asking a simple analysis question that leads to categorization and classification.Two more titles to "ladder up" with Rebecca Kai Dotlich's book might be:CLICK, RUMBLE, AND ROAR: POEMS ABOUT MACHINES by Lee Bennett HopkinsINCREDIBLE INVENTIONS by Lee Bennett Hopkins

This is fun to read out loud-I haven’t gotten tired of it yet! I bought it after we got it as a library book and my 16 mo old son loved it. He now points out “canes” wherever we go. I think this book will grow with him too; it has humor he’ll appreciate as he gets older.

What Can a Crane Pick Up? is just about the most adorable board book I've seen for little ones interested in construction equipment or curious about the world around them. All about things a crane could pick up as the title suggests, the text and artwork in the book are a real treat to read, and offer many opportunities to elaborate on different items the crane can pick up. For example - aside from steel beams, which is the most common thing that comes to mind, this crane picks up trucks, airplanes, polar bears, boxes of underwear, men in business suits, trains, mummies, books, ticket booths, ferris wheels, birdcages, etc. I purchased this for my 15 month old, and after reading it a few times, I would say this book is probably more appropriate for a slightly older kiddo who has a longer attention span and big curiosity about things that you might not see in your everyday life. Highly recommend!

What a warm and delightful pairing! One of my favorite poets, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, once again brings her talents to a picture book, and the combination of her joyful text with Mike Lowery's whimsical illustrations is perfect. We purchased WHAT CAN A CRANE PICK UP? for our little nephew who is watching his own house being built, and he adores both word and picture. This is one of those "read it again" books, and would sit happily on a nightstand with GOODNIGHT GOODNIGHT CONSTRUCTION SITE by Sherri Duskey Rinker. I plan to give this as a gift to many more little ones in my life, and I hope for more WHAT CAN A...? books by this team.

There are rhymes in the middle and rhymes at the end--the fun in this book just never ends! Dotlich has managed to take us on a whimsical, lyrical voyage through cities, countrysides and even a stop in Egypt. From perfectly cushioned alliterations to internal rhymes, the language will delight the child and adult alike. With diversity in both text and illustrations, the reader will be captivated by this charming tale of the crane's domain.

Didn’t know this book before ordering, but it is great. If your kid/children love construction vehicles, they will love this book.

What Can a Crane Pick Up? is a book that will have an adult looking for a child so they can read it aloud. Laced with humor and rhymes that work, children will pick up on the pattern and will anticipate and read along on the fifth or thirteenth or eighty-seventh reading, which they will demand. The good part is that adults will be willing to read it that many times!

This is the business my husband is in and we bought this for our grandson. The book is accurate and better than we hoped! We love it and will be buying more!!

Our book arrived damaged. The cardboard envelope was fine, but the board book had gauges in the cover. Not suitable to give as a gift.

The little boy loves the book.

My son adores books about trucks and cranes. This book is the first such book he hasn’t had me read 17 times in the first day of owning. The art work is ok and the rhyming is okNot sure if this is one for the home library, we should have just borrowed it from our local public library

My son's favorite book - and ours as well. It's super cute, rhymes well, and has great illustrations. A fun story describing everything a crane can pick up - from cuckoo clocks to boxes of underwear!

great writing, fun comparisons and rhyming, decent art and lots going on to look at. kiddo loves it