Buildings in Disguise: Architecture That Looks Like Animals, Food, and Other Things [Hardcover]

Joan Marie Arbogast (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Imagine climbing into an elephant, sitting inside a sombrero, or working inside a basket. These things are possible with mimetic architecture - structures that mimic other objects. From north to south, from east to west, buildings designed to look like beagles, baskets, and binoculars dot the American landscape. Join Joan Marie Arbogast as she traces the history of this funtastic form of architecture in the United States. Discover a variety of eye-catching, head-turning buildings beginning with our nation's oldest functioning example, Lucy the Elephant, to one of our youngest, a beagle named Sweet Willy. Though different in size, shape, and color, these buildings have one thing in common: they all grab your attention.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5 - An entertaining look at examples of mimetic architecture. Most of the buildings were constructed in the U.S. between 1910 and 1950, when the national network of two-lane highways made tourism by car popular. One chapter is devoted to gas stations shaped like a teepee, a teapot, a pagoda, etc. Other sections look at lodgings (teepees again, windmills, a pueblo) and restaurants (a milk bottle, a watermelon, a dog, etc.). Lucy, the 65-foot-tall elephant in Margate, NJ, and the 20-foot-tall Big Duck, located on Long Island, NY, each receive individual treatment. Additional chapters cover entertainment complexes (such as South Dakota's Corn Palace and several storybook theme parks) and office buildings (like the basket-shaped Longaberger Company headquarters). The full-color photos are bright and striking, and vintage pictures of the structures as they were originally built and of those no longer standing are also included. The text is written with just a touch of nostalgia, making the book evocative of an earlier era when travelers in automobiles took their time meandering around the country. Occasionally, the author states the obvious, but being humorously obvious is really the point of mimetic architecture, after all. The index adds usefulness for geography and history reports, but this is primarily a fun browsing title that reveals the vitality and spirit of inventive architecture. - Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. This eye-catching book features buildings "disguised" in other forms, from 65-foot-tall Lucy the Margate Elephant, a National Historic Landmark, to the Longaberger headquarters, a seven-story replica of a basket made by the company, to the original White Castle hamburger outlet, a tiny building with turreted and crenellated walls. The many illustrations include reproductions of period photographs, prints, and postcards as well as more recent photos of the sites. Though the gee-whiz appeal of the illustrations generally exceeds the interest level of the text and captions, readers looking for more information about this unusual subject will find the book a good starting place. Arbogast notes that she was unable to find any other books for children on the subject, but she appends a selected bibliography of adult materials, a list of brochures, and addresses of relevant Web sites. On the endpapers, a U.S. map indicates the locations of the 24 buildings mentioned in the text. Recommended for larger collections. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press (November 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159078099X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590780992
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 11.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,256,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just wonderful; not just for kids, April 1, 2005

By 

JerseyTomato - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Buildings in Disguise: Architecture That Looks Like Animals, Food, and Other Things (Hardcover)

I ordered this book for the library where I work. My main reason was to have something on hand about Lucy, the Margate Elephant, since it's in our area. I would have been satisfied at almost anything on a child's reading level, but was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the book.

The photos are large and plentiful, mostly in full color, and printed on high-quality glossy paper. The text is not difficult yet doesn't talk down to the reader. I've watched several tv shows on this type of architecture, yet there are buildings in this book I'd never heard of before. Likewise, there is more explanation about some familiar buildings than I'd come across before.

At the end the author provides a bibliography of books suitable for both children and adults. She has even starred adult books which will be of special interest to kids because of great illustrations or explanations. A list of websites is also given.

The book is a total pleasure to look at, read and touch. I hope to see it on a list of award-winners sometime soon.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars IT'S A WIGWAM, IT'S A BOAT, IT'S A BUILDING!, October 13, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Buildings in Disguise: Architecture That Looks Like Animals, Food, and Other Things (Hardcover)

Some years ago a book was published, Learning From Las Vegas, in which the architecture along the ever famous strip was discussed, dissected, and photographed. Perhaps there was a picture of a hot dog stand shaped like a hot dog or a restaurant shaped like a tepee. As is shown in this recent volume by Joan Marie Arbogast one needn't go to Las Vegas to see odd or funny or strange, certainly attention getting buildings.

Some of the architecture featured in Arbogast's book is called "mimetic architecture" because the buildings mimic other objects, a duck, a dog or an elephant. Lucy, the Margate Elephant in New Jersey, was built in 1881. Lucy has a main room somewhat smaller than a two-car garage and car size ears.

We find structures by imaginative builders who sought to capture motorists with eye-catching gas stations, one shaped like a teapot another like a gigantic gas can. There are motels in the shapes of wigwams and river boats, and restaurants built like milk bottles, watermelons, and castles.

"Buildings in Disguise" is an entertaining trip through American offbeat architecture, yesterday and today.

- Gail Cooke

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONLY IN AMERICA?, May 26, 2007

By 

Gwynne C. Spencer (Mancos, Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Buildings in Disguise: Architecture That Looks Like Animals, Food, and Other Things (Hardcover)

Why not plan a road trip from the Elephant to the Madonna Inn? I doubt that any nation on Planet Earth has an equal variety of odd-ball buildings that kids would love to visit, have their picture taken with, and take home for Show and Tell. Lucy the Elephant near Atlantic City has a window in her butt, and used to be a bathhouse where you could change into your clothes after a tough day on the beach. The Teapot Gas station in Zillah is sort of a gateway to wineries in the area. The ORIGINAL White Castle in Wichita is about the size of a garage. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD is often the site of a Prairie Home Companion show. It would be such fun to do a BIG book of Weird America with lots more sites to visit. But this one has plenty, and lots of possibilities for the classroom using mapping, Google, and virtual travel. The book has maps front and back with many states devoid of sites. There's the challenge for the classroom--to find something in every state and build a national directory of nutty architecture. Start your engines!