Wheels at Work in the Country

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

This new series features commercial vehicles and machinery of every size
and description found in both urban and rural areas. Wheels at Work in
the City begins with a garbage truck already at work as the city awakes.
A delivery truck, a bus, a fire truck, a moving van, a bucket truck, an
armoured truck, a courier, an ambulance, a chip wagon, a power rodder,
and, as night falls, a street sweeper all follow.

Wheels at Work in the Country is organized to reflect a year on a farm,
beginning with spring planting, through the harvest, to the fall
fertilizing and plowing in readiness for the next year’s crops. Farm
and feed trucks, a tractor, a cultivator, a field sprayer, a school bus,
livestock and horse trailers, a baler, a combine, a grain buggy and
plow, and a well-drilling rig are featured.

Each type of vehicle or machine is identified in bold print and
accompanied by a large, colourful illustration—all in a double-page
spread. A brief description tells how each machine works and how it is
used. Interesting details, if applicable, are included (for example, the
mirrors on a delivery truck fold in, enabling the vehicle to navigate
narrow laneways).

While these attractive, sturdy books would be most appropriate for
primary-grade children, they are detailed enough to be a useful resource
for junior-level studies of machinery and transportation. Recommended.