HIDE-AND-SEEK AT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE

This oversized lift-the-flap board book is reminiscent of Richard Scarry’s classic titles.

Four lines of rhyming text highlight the function of the equipment seen on each spread. Unfortunately, the rhyme is sometimes forced; “trees” does not rhyme with “debris,” unless “debris” is mispronounced. A concluding couplet—“What is hiding? Take a peek. / Lift the flaps for hide-and-seek!”—repeated on each spread directs readers to eight flaps hidden on each spread. Their small cutouts are almost too small for tiny fingers. Oddly, it is only after opening the flap and revealing the hidden object that readers are asked, “Can you find the _____?” These tiny objects have no relation to either their hiding places or construction. A piece of cake lurks beneath a wheelbarrow; a dump truck hides a pencil. The lack of contextual clues makes this book one to share with somewhat older readers, who may learn some new vocabulary but probably won’t be much challenged. Still, there is much to see and talk about. (Don’t miss the construction worker anxiously waiting to use the port-a-potty. That might have been a flap worth opening.) Animal workers of many species labor on this construction site. One is referred to as “she,” the only pronoun used in the book; two of the three adult caregivers depicted in a final spread wear dresses.

There’s lots of detail, but it’s poorly organized.