Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 1-3. Kristen takes orders in the sky, but she is not a flight attendant. She is an apprentice ironworker, a gopher of sorts for the ironworkers on the construction site of a tall New York City building. Her typical day begins with taking workers' orders for everything from doughnuts to choker cables--and that involves climbing multiple stories and balancing on beams at dizzying, dangerous heights. Each spread shows Kristen in a different part of the unfinished building, talking with a different type of ironworker. Yellow numbered dots identify everything from lump hammers to the site fence, and a key supplies a short definition of each. (Readers eventually find out how the food orders get to the workers but not the equipment.) The photomontage background papers were created from photographs taken from great heights in New York; unfortunately, the text all but disappears into these busy collages. An author's note emphasizes the importance of teamwork and identifies the actual Kristen about whom the book is written. A shoo-in for hard-core junior builders. --Karin Snelson Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Combine the aesthetics of accomplished collagist Roth (Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah, reviewed Sept. 27) with a day-in-the-life tale of a female ironworker apprentice, and the result is a standout construction book. The dialogue-driven text follows Kristen (inspired by a real-life, fourth-generation New York City ironworker) through her morning as she scales the building's skeleton and takes orders for the raising gang's (or "group of ironworkers") tools and snacks ("I could use some batteries for this telephone and a big iced tea with lemon," the signal man tells her). Along the way, Kristen (and readers) learns the ropes of the 10 crew jobs. (The plumber upper, for example, shows her how to check the bubble in his level to make sure the column is "straight up and down.") Roth elucidates unfamiliar words and techniques with brief annotations set in slightly smaller type and numbered with bright yellow circles, which correspond with the technique or tool in the illustration. By creating barebones characterizations of cut-paper and cloth (Kristen herself is distilled down to a mass of blonde fiber hair, two dot eyes and a blue bump for a hard hat), Roth keeps the focus on the dramatic rise of the building and beautifully conveys what it feels like to move among the criss-crossing girders high above the city streets (represented in photomontage with images from actual Manhattan work sites). She brings alive the ironworkers' sense of community, and how they embrace anyone willing to start at the bottom and work their way up-make that way, way up. Ages 5-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-Kristen, an apprentice at a big building site, is responsible for checking with the ironworkers and bringing them snacks and tools. One by one, the specialized workers make their requests. For example, the connectors need another pail of connecting bolts and the hooker-on needs a choker cable. On each spread, numbered footnotes in small print describe objects mentioned in the text or shown in the illustrations. Although the plot is thin and the writing is somewhat dry, Roth presents a plethora of construction jargon. The last spread asks readers to identify the titles of the 12 ironworkers mentioned in the narrative; the answers are appended. The paper-collage illustrations are bold and busy with signs, city backgrounds, and iron beams. They clearly show the organized chaos of a building site. This unique look at construction trades may be useful for units on careers or community helpers.-Linda Staskus, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Parma, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) Skyscraper's photo-essay chronologically traces the rise of the Random House building in New York City from inception to completion. The brief text outlines some of the challenges in the process and adds related facts (""It takes 258,000 bolts to fasten the steel together"") in asides printed in red type on each double-page spread. This overview will attract some youngsters with its dramatic photographs and whet their appetites for more information. The lack of depth can occasionally be confusing when several jobs and processes are covered in a couple of sentences, and some questions (such as why the building uses a concrete frame on the upper stories) are raised but never answered. Still, Goodman conveys both respect for the builders and awe at the precision and effort it takes to erect such a structure. Hard Hat Area also takes readers into the clouds. The book chronicles a single morning in the life of an apprentice ironworker as she checks in with various crewmembers (including a foreman, decker, signal man, welder, and crane operator) on a construction site and brings snacks and tools to each. Roth's stunning collages, overlaid on a photomontage of the New York skyline, showcase the various workers, their jobs, and their equipment in situ; clear explanatory notes describe the work and responsibilities for each person involved in the construction. This co-existence of story narrative and enumeration of factual information allows readers two entries into the subject. While each element can stand alone, in combination they provide a rich reading experience. [Review covers these titles: Skyscraper and Hard Hat Area.] (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Kids who are intrigued by construction sites and equipment will find this unusually structured book a solid hit. Focusing on ironworkers and their particular jobs and tools, the text follows Kristen, an apprentice ironworker, as she works high up on a skyscraper construction site, taking orders for needed supplies and snacks and beverages. Each spread shows a different kind of worker on the job with the addition of several numbers in yellow circles. These numbered items are defined in corresponding lists within the text blocks, explaining many of the tools, jobs, and safety requirements. Roth's stunning collage illustrations include real denim and cork for the worker's clothes and intriguing montages of city buildings spread out far below the workers. The final spread shows all the workers on the job and invites the reader to identify each previously described worker by his or her particular skill. An author's note includes additional information about ironworkers and explains that all ironworker apprentices start out in a similar way. (Picture book/nonfiction. 3-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
