Bridge Building: Bridge Designs and How They Work.

Bridge Building: Bridge Designs and How They Work

Diana Briscoe

Red Brick Learning

7825 Telegraph Road, Bloomington, MN 55438

ISBN: 0736838813 $23.93, 64 pages

Remember when you were a kid and you stepped carefully across a log that lay between the banks of the creek? It was a game to keep from falling into the water. If you were one of those people who rose to the challenge, you crossed one of the first recognized walkway tools, the beam bridge.

A more sophisticated beam bridge made of beams, rope, a deck, and piers was built by the Europeans over 4,500 years ago. Their walkways covered rivers and marshes as long as 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). Photographs and well researched bridge details help the reader understand the fascinating history of how bridges have evolved. Historical details show us why the arch bridge was important, why the Inca's built a suspension bridge across a deep gorge, how the beam bridge was improved with trestles, trusses, and cantilevers and how things can go terribly wrong in a section highlighting bridge disasters.

Incorporated into the well designed interior is the inclusion of vocabulary words. One problem with putting a glossary at the back of the book is the readers' willingness to stop and flip. Many have been known to shrug off the notion and continue on uninformed. That problem has been solved by placing unobtrusive, bold faced vocabulary words at the bottom of each page. My students took to the book instantly, quoting interesting facts and sharing pictures.The Table of Contents and Index make it easy to find specific information.