Dreaming Up: A Celebration Of Building (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
The publisher's summary is spot-on: "A collection of concrete poetry, illustrations, and photographs that show how young children's constructions, created as they play, are reflected in notable works of architecture from around the world. Includes biographies of the architects, quotations, and sources."The more I look at this book, the more I love it. It truly honors children's play as meaningful and intentional and clearly demonstrates play as the foundation for the development of skills that can be pursued and perfected in adulthood.I also appreciated Hale's inclusiveness in creating the book. Her illustrations reflect diverse children working independently and in small groups, playing indoors and outdoors in a variety of climates and contexts, and using found, natural, and fabricated materials. The architectural works Hale features and their creators are also diverse. She includes functionally and structurally diverse constructions from five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America), and the architects are from equally diverse geographic origins, feature men and women, and highlight many big names in the field of contemporary architecture. (The oldest featured architect was born in 1852 and the youngest was born in 1966.)What a lovely, lovely addition to my classroom library! A beautiful multicultural celebration of building, with structures created by children on the pages on the left coupled with real architectural buildings with similar characteristics on the pages on the right. A concrete poem is written for each with words arranged in the shape of the structure. Information about the architects of the buildings are in the back pages of the book and they are diverse as well. A beautiful book! For children 4 and up.
What do You think about Dreaming Up: A Celebration Of Building (2012)?
I love juxtaposition of a child's imaginative play and real structures from around the world.
—Anasvenson
