What's that building? An architectural guessing game

Form follows function in this interactive picture book, in which Donnelly and debuting creator Cho challenge readers to consider the puzzles shaping 10 buildings' designs. Each section opens with a question: "If you need space for... What building do you need?" Scene fragments visualize different use cases in action, such as a building for "learning about math, history, art, music, and lots more!" Page turns reveal crisply detailed cutaways of structures filled with busy populations--think Where's Waldo? meets In the Town All Year 'Round. Explanatory text, meanwhile, broadly reveals the many factors architects consider: a museum, for example, needs display space as well as "controlled conditions" and "secret rooms." Recurring visual Easter eggs reward close looking: a dedicated architect pops up in each drawing, while the buildings' occupants include an extraterrestrial, a star, and more. In revealing from the ground up how public spaces are one interpretation of societal values, this book encourages insight and curiosity about built environments. Human characters are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 5--8. (Oct.)

Cutaway views teeming with tiny figures invite viewers to peer into 10 specialized types of building, from airport to aquarium. Aiming to get readers thinking like architects and imbued with the fundamental principle that form follows function, Donnelly tallies basic requirements for a collection of buildings that Cho incorporates into a series of compelling and absorbing cutaway views. A school, for instance, should ideally have both learning and office spaces with easy access between floors, locations for eating and physical activity, and places to store supplies--all of which can be picked out in the spread-filling illustration that follows. Other structures, from shopping mall and museum to bakery, planetarium, and veterinary clinic, require distinctive mixes of similar and unique features. Cho sometimes skips essentials like restrooms and HVAC systems, although the omission is hardly noticeable. Her busy, finely detailed spaces are filled to the brim with bustling, individually drawn users who not only encompass a great range of ages, races, body types, and dress, but also include an "architect" whom viewers are invited to spot in each scene, as well as the occasional disguised animal or space alien. A treat for Where's Waldo fans as well as an eye-opener for budding architects. (glossary)(Informational picture book. 7-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.