What a big idea! And what big fun: A whopping oversize book of interactive paper models to appeal to every kid who loves big machines-which pretty much covers all of them.

These are the coolest big machines that kids love-each re-created in an oversize paper model that, once built, really moves. The book has everything the reader needs to pop out, fold, and create a full-color model of ten big machines: a dump truck, space shuttle, excavator, ladder truck, front loader, concrete mixer, steam locomotive, steamboat, dirigible, Chinook helicopter. Created by Phil Conigliaro, a gifted paper engineer and artist, the models are printed on sturdy card stock; perforated to pop out and fold; require only gluing (no tape or pins); and come with complete, easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions. And, worth repeating, each one moves: Wheels roll and the mixer turns, helicopter blades spin, and the excavator's boom and bucket raises and lowers.

Additionally there's the story of each machine-how it works, who invented it, what it's used for. Kids will learn the history of the steam shovel-the smoking, hissing monster that dug the Panama Canal, the largest engineering feat of the 20th century; how astronauts in a space shuttle could withstand the 3,000 degrees of heat created when it returned to Earth; how the world's largest dump truck can haul a million pounds. It's big stuff!