5 Books for Kids Interested in Architecture and Design

Iggy Peck, Architect, by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts 
This fun series has a ton of young fans, and it’s easy to see why. Iggy Peck wants to be an architect, and he constructs all sorts of things at home, like towers made out of diapers! When his second grade teacher forbids him to build, his innovative spirit is sunk—until their class picnic, when a bridge collapses and the strict teacher realizes that having an architect around can be useful after all!

If I Built a House, by Chris Van Dusen
Has your child ever wished for a water slide down the stairs, or a trampoline in the kitchen? If so, they’ll perfectly relate to Jack. With a big imagination and a lot of enthusiasm, Jack wants to build the house of his dreams. With a racetrack and a flying room and the aforementioned slide, his would be the house of most kids’ dreams. The detailed illustrations provide retro, yet futuristic images that pair well with the text. Your kids will be inspired to design their own creative spaces before long.

Look at that Building!: A First Book of Structures, by Scot Ritchie 
This book teaches the technical steps of how to build a house through a cute story about five friends who want to build a doghouse. Budding builders will learn about everything from the foundation to the roof. If your reader is feeling inspired, they can build their own miniature doghouse with the help of an interactive activity at the end of the story. How cool is that?

My Grandpa’s Chair, by Jiyeon Pak 
This book is beautiful and heartfelt, and tells the story of a young girl who wants to make her grandfather happy again after the loss of his wife. She thinks that taking him shopping for a new chair will cheer him up. They look at all sorts of chairs, rocking chairs, hard chairs, soft chairs; but much like Goldilocks, nothing is quite right. They then decide to order a specially designed chair made by a master craftsman, but that ends up being too precious to use. Finally, Grandpa and Granddaughter wind up sitting on a stump in the park reading a book, which is just right. This book has a lovely moral that it’s not the design of the chair itself, but the company you share it with that brings you joy.

Too Tall Houses, by Gianna Marino 
Anyone who’s lived in New York City and has had their view obstructed by a giant skyscraper will be able to relate to the architectural calamity in this story. Friends and neighbors owl and a rabbit “lived in two small houses on top of a hill.” They lived in perfect harmony until rabbit’s garden grew too tall and blocked owl’s view. So owl built his house taller. Then rabbit built his house taller. You can see where this is going! A gust of wind levels these two tall houses down to dirt, and what could have been a disaster, instead brings these rivals back to what’s important: their friendship, not the view.