Title: Wild Buildings and Bridges: Architecture Inspired by Nature
Author: Etta Kaner
Illustrator: Carl Wiens
ISBN: 9781771387811          Language: English

Classification: Non-fiction
Themes: architecture, nature

What's it about?
This is a book that looks at how nature has informed certain designs. For instance, how technology may mimic the natural flow of a river to keep man-made water reserves clean, or how a beetle that can create its own water inspired the design of a greenhouse.

Embrace
The layout is fantastic in this book with each page having a balance of text, illustrations, and where relevant, photographs. It is a very easy book to follow and I love that it includes DIY experiments to explore some of the basic design concepts.

Beware
Nothing here - unless I can ask for a second volume?

My Thoughts
This one is due for release on October 2, 2018, and I must say I've had to sit on this review since June to share with you all! So difficult because this is such a good book to have.

Finding good books for STEM/STEAM lessons is difficult, finding great books is next to impossible especially once you look for books targeting upper primary grades (5-7) and junior high school (8-9). Based on that this book is really a must-have on the teacher's shelf and in the classroom.

Firstly, the layout. I mentioned it a bit above but the layout is fantastic. I love that it combines illustrations of the creature or natural concept and then alongside or nearby shows how architects used that concept to inform a specific design as shown in a photograph. That is such an important element in assisting children (and adults) in making Text-to-World connections.

"...we can read all we like, but it sticks in our brains much more if we do as well."

The little experiments are great for children to practise a concept to see exactly the why and the how behind the thinking - because let's face it, we can read all we like, but it sticks in our brains much more if we do as well. The instructions are provided with written text and accompanying illustrations making them easy to follow and replicate. My kids particularly liked doing the experiment of A Sweet Deal (page 25) to measure the perimeters with string and lining them up shortest to biggest (my kids are on the younger side so I modified it to suit) and also making tessellating patterns with the three provided (we used some fantastic wooden pattern blocks for this from the Toy Playhouse).

Overall, this is a great cross-curricular resource to have as a teacher resource to help inform your planning but also as a student resource. If you are super keen to see a preview of the book before it's released, head over to the Kids Can Press website and click the "Google Preview" button under the book cover.

Special thanks to Kids Can Press and NetGalley for providing me
with a free copy of the book.