What Can a Crane Pick Up? by Dotlich - OPTIONAL

Dotlich, Rebecca Kai  What Can a Crane Pick Up?  Illustrated by Mike Lowery  Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.  $16.99  PICTURE BOOK  Content: G.  

This is a rhyming tale about the machine a crane.  The book covers all the basics of what a crane can pick up: trucks, trains, supplies and buildings.  And then it gets silly and talk about crane’s picking up cows, boxes of underwear and men in business suits.  At the end, it says to be careful because a crane can also pick up you.  

This is a fun read-aloud because the rhyming sounds similar to a Dr. Seuss book.  It is also entertaining as well as informative about what cranes can do.  My biggest complaint is that the illustrations and the text get jumbled together and so it’s sometimes hard to tell what order to read the text.  Also, the illustrations are elementary and simple, and not as cute as the rhyming story.  

EL (K-3) - OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.