Editorial Review
‘With the call of ‘Hey, you guys! Let’s get to work,’ women and men shoulder drills and picks, board cranes and cement mixers, and set their equipment bulldozing and steamrolling across vibrant page spreads. Barton generates the excitement of road and building construction for young sidewalk engineers.’ —BL.
1988 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
Notable 1987 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children 1987 (NSTA/CBC)
1987 Children's Books (NY Public Library)
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Customer Reviews
A great book, and it tells a story 
2004-12-21
This was our first Byron Barton book, and we love it! Our son said some of his first words while reading this book with him.
A previous reviewer found the book disjointed, but I'd have to disagree. The first half of the book is all about the destruction required before construction ("Knock down that building", "Dig up that road"). Then, we have lunch. After lunch, it's all about building up again ("Lift that beam", "Mix the cement"). Finally, after building and road are built, it's time to stop the machines and go home (but there's "More work tomorrow"). It's got a nice balance, and if you're reading it at bedtime, it's a nice segue into a talk about all the things you did today, and what you'll do tomorrow.
So So 
2004-02-04
Its is better than some of the "truck" books out there but it's a bit pricey. Most truck books just identify lots of variations on backhoes but this one at least has a little bit of a story. However, to me it seemed a bit disjointed. First they worked on the road and then the building and then the road again. It tried to be sequential but somehow never came together. Also, it was disappointing not to see some final product (a finished building or road, etc). I would not have bought it if I could have looked through it in its entirety. I just relied on the reviews.
hey you guys! diggers and rubble rocks! 2003-04-01
2 very different grandsons, each 18 months ADORE this book. one learned 'all the lines' within 24 hours! super illustrations and wonderful words to accompany each page! i've bought copies for every little boy i know!
Barton's books are awesome for toddlers learning to talk 2002-10-27
I wish I had started buying these board books when my 2.5 year old was a baby. The text is simple and has a nice rhythym to it, and the illustrations are great. My son memorizes these books after requesting to hear them time after time. I'm sure he'll enjoy these books for a while longer. Regardless, they are great books...just don't wait until your child is four to buy them!
This is a must for those kids who love trucks 2002-05-29
This is a great book! My son loves it and he is 2 years old. If you have a child that is in to trucks this is a must.
Simplicity is its strong suit! 2006-09-16
When I first got this for my son (2 years), I thought "What a snooze-fest!" We were still high on the Mo Willems wave, still in love with Knuffle Bunny and the slightly off-kilter viewpoint of the Pigeon, so the utter barrenness and simplicity of Machines at Work honestly put me off. But, as it is all about the baby (and don't he know it!), Connor simply loves it! Although he is fickle (we have now moved on to the pop-up Bug series by David A. Carter) it firmly held the New Boy Times #1 bedseller slot for a good 3 weeks (an eternity to the toddler set). It also was known to douse many a tantrum (great diversion - "I know you just ka-bonked your head on the dining room table for the fortieth time today, but LOOK AT THESE COOL TRUCKS!") and entertain on long car rides.
The story (as it is) involves a diverse work crew doing stuff with simple 4-5 word narration for each page. It is so simple, it is almost zen-like. And Connor came to be able to repeat each phrase as we turned the page - as soon as I opened the cover he would gleefully shoud out "Hey, you guys!". Reading this to him at bedtime has become one of the fondest memories of my fatherhood experience, and hopefully one of my son's funnest moments.
A Byron Barton Classic 2006-05-24
Our copy has now passed on to our third child -- Anna and Jane loved this book, and Danny loves it, too.
Byron Barton really seems to "get it" -- what captivates a child. Bold illustrations, nice use of color, and just enough detail for a board book.
Board books aren't necessarily meant to teach or be encyclopedic -- they're like good friends that you visit every day, and look forward to doing so. "Machines At Work" is just that -- a good friend.
We've named the characters, we make construction sounds when we read, and we love the lunch break and the end of the day pages.
Solidly constructed, wonderfully illustrated, and age appropriate, "Machines At Work" is a winner, sure to please any pre-reader. Thank you, Byron Barton!
Good for Learning to Read 2006-02-22
My two year old recently figured out all the sentences in this book, and reads them aloud. He feels so proud after finishing the story, and reads it almost every night. Of course he's just memorizing but its one of a few books that he "reads".
A Comedy? 2005-10-26
My three year old son usually only lets me read him books with characters he knows. I gambled on this one and came up a winner. I'm not sure why, but he laughs through the whole thing and wants to hear it again and again. He loves to beat me to the first line, "Hey you guys!" For my reluctant reader, Machines at Work is a winner.
Construction for the young 'uns 
2005-06-13
When you write as many reviews of children's books as I do (and is there any more pompous way to begin a sentence, I wonder) you sometimes find yourself at a loss for words when it comes to the simpler ones. And author/illustrator Byron Barton is, if nothing else, the patron saint of picture book straightforwardness. There is no wry undertone to a Barton book. No sly wit. No winks or nods to parents and educators beneath the simple childlike text. Nope. Byron Barton is an author that writes stories for children and children alone. In "Machines At Work", Barton (who's millions of books have covered every topic from planes to dinosaurs) tackles that perpetual toddler fascination - - the worksite.
In this particular book, we observe a wide variety of small workers (male, female, white, black, etc.) off to work. Some climb readily into their machines. Others dictate instructions from below. For this day, the workers knock down a building, bulldoze trees, dump rubble, take a lunch break, build a building, and build a road (amongst other activities). Then the expressionless crew heads for home after a long and satisfying day. Says the text, "More work tomorrow".
The book begins with the sentence, "Hey, you guys!". For those parents amongst you who remember the heyday of that classic PBS show, "The Electric Company", you know how best to read that line. Otherwise, the sentences in this book tend to be instructions. The narrator (and, hence, the child reading the book) tells the little people what to do and they do it. I was intrigued by the prior reviewer of this book who commented that though we see the workers apparently build a road and building, no final product is ever shown at the end. It would be nice to see the result of all this work. Obviously Barton thinks kids would be far more interested in the breaking down and building up than in the end products. I was also a little amazed at the amount of destruction in this book as opposed to the significantly smaller amount of construction.
But these aren't really criticisms. If you've a kid who likes machines that go vroom and boom, it's hard to find fault with this book. There are plenty of simple words with thick black lines for kids to understand. No, it won't name the machines one by one. You'll have to find a different book for that. Still, it's a nice enough preschool title to entrance those kiddies who're already enamored of these friendly agents of destruction. A simple text that is certain to find a wide appreciative audience.
