COVERED BRIDGES: A CLOSE-UP LOOK by Alan Giagnocavo ✰✰✰✰

I found this lovely, simple book fascinating!  As a homeschooling mother I am always on the lookout for interesting books to use to illustrate art and science concepts for my kids.  This book takes a number of beautiful covered bridges in the United States and renders them in architect’s drawings, some very detailed, showing not only the outside elevations and inside structural renderings, but also many drawings of individual structural details.  A very brief history of each bridge is given as well.  The drawings themselves are done in pencil, but there is watercolor wash over pencil drawings of wooded areas surrounding the bridges that gives the book  the feel of a wonderful nature book-I loved it!  In some of the drawings the physics of the structure is explained, sometimes because it was the first time in history that that type of support was used.  The physical science in and of itself was interesting to myself and my kids, but it was also easy to see the love that went into creating these incredible buildings-they are truly forms of art.  

The publisher, Fox Chapel Publishing, also has a similar book out on lighthouses, which I gave a brief look through, and which appears to be similar in nature, for those who are interested in that great fixture of the American landscape.

You definitely do not need to be an architect to appreciate this book.  If you live near a covered bridge or are simply interested in their construction, a browse through this book would be enjoyable.  This would also be a lovely gift for someone who is planning a trip to New England, loves covered bridges, or has a penchant for unusual coffee table books.