Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building

by Deborah Hopkinson, James E. Ransome (Illustrator)

Overview

This Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book and ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book provides a riveting brick-by-brick account of how one of the most amazing accomplishments in American architecture came to be. It’s 1930 and times are tough for Pop and his son. But look! On the corner of 34th Street and 5th Avenue, a building straight and simple as a pencil is being built in record time. Hundreds of men are leveling, shoveling, hauling. They’re hoisting 60,000 tons of steal, stacking 10 million bricks, eating lunch in the clouds. And when they cut ribbon and the crowds rush in, the boy and his father will be among the first to zoom up to the top of the tallest building in the world and see all of Manhattan spread at their feet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307983213
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	11/28/2012
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	51 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of A Boy Called Dickens and the ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek. Her other titles include Apples to Oregon, Under the Quilt of Night (also illustrated by James E. Ransome), and Fannie in the Kitchen. She lives in Oregon.

James E. Ransome is the illustrator of many highly acclaimed titles for children, including The Creation by James Weldon Johnson, which won a Coretta Scott King Award for illustration, and Let My People Go by Patricia McKissack, winner of an NAACP Image Award. His other titles include Major Taylor, Young Pele and Before There Was Mozart, all three written by Lesa Cline-Ransome. He lives in New York.

Editorial Reviews

A second-person narrative voice places readers at the construction site of (at that time) the world's tallest skyscraper. From the first line, "It's the end of winter,/ and your pop's lost his job," the grim realities of the Depression form the story's backdrop. Opening spreads show a boy collecting firewood from "that old hotel/ they tore down at/ Thirty-fourth and Fifth." Hopkinson (Fannie in the Kitchen) infuses an emotional charge in her dramatization of the building's erection ("a symbol of hope/ in the darkest of times"), while also folding technical details into lyrical prose: "First come rumbling flatbed trucks,/ bundles of steel on their backs,/ like a gleaming, endless river/ surging through/ the concrete canyons of Manhattan." Ransome's oil paintings, in hues of blue, gray and russet brown, capture the scale and increasing elevation at which the "sky boys" worked. Framed against white clouds, men stand precariously on steel scaffolding. One spread, divided into vertical quarters, shows the building's progress in June, July, August and November; the next, a climactic vertical spread, boldly labeled "5:42 pm March 18, 1931," depicts workers stationed on the pinnacle mast, an American flag billowing behind them. Photographs of the site's actual construction decorate the endpapers, and an endnote offers even more details. The subplot about the father and son (who tour the completed building at the book's close) seems tacked on, but the drama of the building's rise makes for a literally riveting account. Ages 4-9. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 4-Hopkinson and Ransome chronicle the construction of this famous building through the eyes of a young boy. The present-tense text gives the book a true "You are there" feel as the author describes both the actual building process and its significance as a symbol of hope during the Depression era. The pacing is never rushed, but at the same time it moves along at an energetic clip that matches the speed that characterized the construction of this National Historic Landmark. Ransome's stunning oil paintings vary in perspective as readers look up at what was once the tallest building in the world, and then down from dizzying heights as workers perch on girders on the 47th floor, feeding pigeons while taking a break for beef stew and coffee. An author's note reflects the painstaking and careful research done by both author and illustrator to ensure as authentic a presentation as possible. This is a fascinating look at a slice of American history and a worthwhile addition to any collection.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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Kirkus Reviews starred review

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