Transportation:  Then And Now, by Robin Nelson

It is hard to tell exactly how much work went into this particular book.  It is a very basic book that is aimed at children who are just learning how to read nonfiction book, and is aimed as a first step into nonfiction.  And that is exactly what it is.  If you have a bright early elementary school student (or even a literate preschooler) who has an interest in transportation and wants to gain at least some insight into the changes in transportation technology that have taken place over the last couple of centuries, this book will do so in a very straightforward fashion that should appeal to young readers.  Now, I do not know how many young readers are interested in transportation history and would find this as a worthwhile gateway into a more substantial conversation about the nature of innovation as it relates to such matters.  But developing a love of good nonfiction is a vital skill for any age, and though I must admit I would have found this book a bit dull and not nearly detailed enough even as a young reader, certainly there are plenty of people who would find a book like this to be useful.

In terms of its contents, they are very simple and straightforward, as the book as a whole is only a bit more than 20 pages long and part of a series that looks a communication, home school, and toys and games as well as transportation.  Most of the pages of this book show photographs with sentence-long captions below them that define transportation and its change over time, contrasting the past with the present.  The types of transportation contrasted include wagons, trains, boats, cars, planes, and space ships.  After this is done, the book then concludes with a timeline that begins with the invention of the steamboat in 1786 and ends with the space shuttle’s debut in 1981 as well as a list of transportation facts (including one about the defunct Concorde) and a glossary of terms and a short index.  Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book, which is a very rudimentary introduction to transportation, is the author’s commitment to finding photographs, even very old ones, that introduce the subject and that help to visualize the past for readers who are likely to be very early in their process of being able to properly visualize the past.