This heavily illustrated title, aimed at early-elementary students, introduces the Hoover Dam and the engineering feats it represents. Combining just one or two large-print sentences on each page, the spreads discuss in the simplest terms what the dam does (it “holds back the mighty Colorado River”) and its importance to the surrounding states before moving on to historical accounts of its construction. The text is dry, but the technological facts become exciting when paired with archival photos, such as an image of workers dangling precariously from ropes as they blast away steep canyon walls. The organization is occasionally puzzling: a map appears at the book’s end rather than in the more logical section that discusses the dam’s location.
