Total Tractor!

July 1, 2015

Gr 4-8-The colorful cover and full-color photographs of this well-designed volume will grab the attention of machinery-loving browsers, though a few flaws mar this title. The book is divided into three chapters ("Powerful Machines," "On the Farm," "Beyond the Fields"), with spreads devoted to different subtopics. The book boasts a clean design, with photos superimposed on white backgrounds. Many spreads feature a large photograph, while a box that resembles a metal plate provides a silhouetted scale model image of the featured tractor and its height and length in standard and metric dimensions. Additional information includes brand name, country of origin, builder, date of first production, weight, and horsepower. Arrows indicate specific parts, while brief text explains the tractor's intended purpose. Other spreads contain several small photographs, accompanied by a sentence of description and the tractor's name, manufacturer, and date. A credit to the design of this volume is that virtually all the photos display the brand name on each vehicle. However, the use of European vocabulary may be confusing, and readers may erroneously assume that the European implements such as seed drills, ridgers, and plows mentioned here are used in this country. VERDICT While this is an attractive, eye-catching title, it's not an authority on domestic equipment. Purchase where budget and interest permits.-Eldon Younce, Anthony Public Library, KS

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2015
Grades 4-7 This big, fully illustrated book presents tractors, from early twentieth-century steam models to modern earth movers, from antique wind-up toys to enormous, sophisticated agricultural machines. Roberts, a Welsh writer who uses vintage tractors on her own small farm, knows her subject and presents it clearly. While some double-page spreads display a single photo with a text box, a more typical spread includes a paragraph of introductory text as well as multiple color photos, each with a caption identifying the tractor model, its date and country of origin, and a line commenting on its purpose and features. The many captioned, labeled photos are excellent, and the short sections of text surrounding them are informative. Clear digital drawings illustrate the occasional sidebar focusing on a particular technology, such as how a double (reversible) plow or a hay baler works. While most books on tractors are aimed at preschool truck-lovers, this one will interest readers of any age. (See our review of the more comprehensive, adult-focused Tractor: The Definitive Visual History, on p.17.)(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)