Burj Khalifa: The Tallest Tower in the World

Burj Khalifa: The Tallest Tower in the World Stuart Kallen Norwood House Press January 2014

Forget the retailer's stated interest level (grades 3-6). This is a great read for anyone open to new ideas and global places.

What's different about this book Really, adult fiction just doesn't do justice to the visual reality that this elementary non-fiction provides. The pictures are intriguing, and the facts are clearly stated in comparable images for the younger reader. Older readers need 'em too. Perhaps best of all was the comprehensive coverage of information. There were a few times when I wanted to know more, but almost always the author covered exactly what I would have asked, if I had known enough to ask. Nice reporting and engaging reading.

What I'll do now that I've read it This is on our purchase lists, and we'll be book-talking it to not only students, but to the STEM teachers and administration as well. This tower is an intriguing and interesting subject, and the book does an excellent job communicating that interest to the reader.

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This is a nonfiction book that will appeal to several types of readers - those who are interested in architecture, engineering, and world records will all be interested in the facts and figures inside. I enjoyed the way those facts were made more understandable by using comparisons. For instance, saying that all the rebar used when pouring the concrete would stretch a quarter of the way around the earth or comparing the horsepower of the concrete pumps to that of racecars makes the details easier to visualize. Adding the stories of BASE jumpers sneaking in to use the tower for a jump or how scenes from the movie "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" were filmed there gives the narrative some entertainment glamour.

For those who are interested in nonfiction text features, this would be a great book to use in class to introduce captions, sidebars, graphs, etc. The full color photos and diagrams show the construction process from beginning to end and include details about testing the design in wind tunnels and how the air conditioning system works. Parts of the process that did not go as smoothly are not left out. Instead, the problems and their solutions are explained. Whether it is how they corrected bowing floors, or the economic problems caused by the Great Recession, it is noteworthy that the author addressed these issues rather than leaving them out.

There are several science standards in our state curriculum (and probably other states have them, too), that deal with engineering and technology. The standards specifically talk about how problems may lead to the invention of new technologies or techniques. This would be a good book to pull examples from, since new techniques were developed for pumping the concrete to the upper floors and to make the air conditioning work efficiently in such a large building and such a hot climate, to name just a couple of the engineering advances from the project.

I would highly recommend this book to be included in any elementary school library.

Well-written and interesting. I knew nothing about this building nor engineering.

This was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. I can see my budding engineers and architects being intrigued by this book. The reading level might be a little high, but I think they'll be interested enough to plow through it. It has very clear descriptions of how the building was put together and that's definitely going to appeal.