In fifth grade my architect husband had an assignment to draw a floor plan of his family's house. He cites this project as the beginning of his certainty about career choice. I have always wondered at the mystery of his drawings and how he can dream and create in three dimensions. My son has always shared his father's passion and the number of children's books to support a love of design and building have grown steadily in the last several years. They even begin with books for a very young child. In Building a House, Byron Barton, an author-illustrator who specializes in simplicity, takes a young child through every phase of construction from bare hill to moving in. As with most of his books, the bright primary-colored art has background easily separated from foreground and clear details that make it easy for a young construction enthusiast to identify materials and tools. Ages 2-5. (Mulberry Books, $4.95) ISBN 0-688-09356-6

For a child who is still young, but wants a more complete picture of the process, non-fiction-pro Gail Gibbons creates How A House is Built. She begins with an architect's role and on a cheerful double-spread introduces all the people (male and female) that will be necessary to the completion of the project. Gibbons then details out all the work with words and illustrations that vary in perspectives, interior and exterior work, but all with an ebulence that will match the excitement of an interested. Ages 4-6. (Holiday House, $13.95) ISBN 0-8234-0841-8

I nearly flunked geometry and have a hard time imagining what pictured architecture feels like. Castles: A 3-Dimensional Exploration by Gillian Osband and Robert Andrew is the kind of book that can get you beyond words and images and into experiencing. As giant structures pop-up from the pages, history, medieval life and architectural development all come to life. Ages 5-10. (Orchard, $15.95) ISBN 0-531-05949-9

Kids generally have self as focus and therefore two books that relate architecture to themselves are helpful for understanding concepts. Forrest Wilson's What It Feels Like To Be A Building describes the functions of various constructions to analagous human conditions in both text and illustration. He presents, for example, a compressed human figure to describe how it feels to be a column "squashed" between ground and building. Concepts grow increasingly more complex throughout the book. This book is fun to act out which is what Mr. Wilson does in his workshops with kids. Ages 5-10. (Preservation Press, $10.95) ISBN 0-89133-147-6

Older children interested in architectural artistry will enjoy Round Buildings, Square Buildings, & Buildings That Wiggle Like a Fish by Philip M. Isaacson. The magnificent color photographs are taken from all perspectives and reveal not only well-known architectural monuments of the world,but lesser recognized structures as well. With a humanistic approach, Isaacson captures the magic of the harmony of a building gives a sense of how buildings go together and effect people through light and the feelings they create. Ages 7-adult. (Knopf, $14.95) ISBN 0-394-89382-4

When children are older they begin to want more specifics. Architects Make Zigzags: Looking at Architecture from A to Z with drawings by Roxie Munro is an alphabetic look at many details that put the art in architecutre. The writing is as clear and direct as Munro's black and white drawings. The details are representative of a wide variety of styles (everything from brackets to quoins) and geographic locations of well-known buildings (everywhere from Michigan to Lousiana). Ages 6-11. (National Historic Trust for Historic Preservation, $9.95)

David Macaulay is an author-illustrator whose name has become synomomous with animated presentation of architecture for children that adults enjoy as well. His books are filled with detailed black and white drawings that bring alive architectural history of specific buildings, reveal tools, methods, and workmanship which led to achievements, and describe step-by-step the process and workings of buildings. His award-winning books include Cathedral Ages 7 to adult. (Houghton Mifflin, $7.95) ISBN 0-395-31668-5

McCauley's tongue and cheek Motel of the Mysteries was published about the time the King Tut exhibit was making its rounds. In this fictional piece, a modern day motel is unearthed in the next century with a mock seriousness that is truely Tut-mania inspired.

The magic of architecture is the stuff for stories too and has been for as long as building has existed. Mary Stolz imagines the vision of the man who created the Great Sphinx in Zekmet: The Stone Carver. When Khafre, the Pharoh charges his vizier with the creation of a monument that will outlive his greatness, the vizier is perplexed, until the peasant Zekmet promises to design just such a monument. Zekmet, himself, stunned by the task, goes into the desert to draw inspiration from the gods. It is there that he sees a magnificent lion that leads him to design the monumental structure we know today. Illustrations by Egyptologist Deborah Lattimore are a tribute to the Egyptian colors, forms and symbols. Ages 5-8. (HBJ, $13.95) ISBN 0-15-299961-2

For Reviva Schermbrucker's hero in Charlie's House, designing is a way out of the poverty of his corrugated iron and scrap home in Guguletu. Charlie Mogotsi escapes a world of leaking roofs and cement floors by dreaming and building a house of mud and scraps that would afford him and his family comfort and privacy. Niki Daly's paintings are largely monochromatic, except for the vivid splashes of colors that accent the brillance of Charlie's fantasies and the warmth of his home. Ages 4-8. (Viking, $13.95) ISBN0-670-84024-6

Rizzoli is a publisher that is known for its excellence in publishing fine architectural books. Now they enter the children's book field with four new books by noted architects John Hejduk, Charles Moore, Stanley Tigerman and Robert A.M. Stern. Stern's The House that Bob Built is modeled after the famous classic rhyme and shows a small bear touring through a beautifully designed home that is full of light and grace and the careful detailing that has made Stern's architecture popular. The book also reflects the differences of living spaces within one home and how they function to support the family that lives within its walls. This book is guaranteed to make you dream about spaces you'd love to live in. Ages 4-adult) (Rizzoli, ) ISBN 0-8478-1369-x

Charles Moore, famous world-wide for his architecture of fantasy and imaginations finds a perfect vehicle in his illustrations for Beauty and the Beast. Never has the Beast lived in such a splendid dream-like palace. Ages 6-adult. (Rizzoli, )ISBN 0-8478-1368-1

Just to interject a note to humble us all, the greatest designers in the world are animal architects. If you weren't convinced of this before, you will be after reading Bruce Brooks' Nature By Design. I must confess that I am not a non-fiction buff and find that a true story must be special to draw me into its mystery. Bruce Brooks' style is what works for me. His is the first personal non-fiction book I've ever read. He begins by describing how he became captured by his subject and then proceeds to capture the reader with his multi-facet viewpoints. He expresses how he, like other humans, has been awe-struck by animal creations, but he urges that we allow ourselves to enter the animal's own view of reality. In truth, this may produce in humans a whole new kind of awe when we imagine how it must feel for a spider to spin out its own building material and then to spring from strand to strand. Brooks knows how to communicate wonder whether it be in image, alnalogy or empathetic experiencing. Ages 7-12. (Farrar, $13.95) ISBN 0-374-30334-7