A boisterous picture book full of noisy fun for machine-mad kids.

“Plan the road. Plan the road. Mark it on the map.” Roadworks takes the reader through all the stages of making a road; from planning to construction to driving on the finished road, the full journey is detailed for young and curious minds with a rhythmic text and bright illustrations.

Creators

Sally Sutton has a keen interest in European languages. She has an M.A. (Hons) in German, and also enjoys writing plays for the stage. Her first picture book for Walker Books Australia, Roadworks, won the Picture Book category of the 2009 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards, and was followed by Demolition and Farmer John’s Tractor. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband and two daughters.

Brian Lovelock is a scientist working in the power industry in New Zealand. He has painted all his life but has only recently ventured into the world of book illustration. His previous titles with Walker Books Australia include Your Mother Didn’t Do That! and Roadworks which won the Picture Book category in the 2009 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults. In 2013, Brian was long-listed for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Award for his work on Demolition. In 2014, Flight of the Honey Bee won the LIANZA Russell Clark Illustration Award, was a Storylines Notable Book and was a finalist for the LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award and the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.

Reviews

Sutton’s latest is a truck-lover’s dream come true—repetition, rhyme and onomatopoeia form the text, while construction trucks vie for readers’ attention in the illustrations. The result is a wonderfully noisy look at how roads are built. …The level of detail matches the text’s intended audience –enough to satisfy, not so much as to overwhelm. Pave the way to this book’s shelf; perfect for read-alouds, it will be a hit whether shared with a group or one-on-one.

Kirkus Review

Kids who love trucks and construction will find an ideal vehicle for their passions in this exuberant book from New Zealand.

Publisher's Weekly

… lots of fabulous onomatopoeia…illustrations are bold and colourful.

Waikato Times

Awards

LIANZA Russell Clark Illustration Award
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