Golden Gate Building the mighty bridge

Using second-person narration--which Heck supplements by placing two young San Franciscans, a brother and a sister, in every illustration--Partridge invites young readers to take ringside seats to the construction of the mighty Golden Gate Bridge. While long, schematic panels running along the bottom indicate the project's overall progress from blueprints to opening-day festivities, the larger, carefully detailed, and dramatically angled scenes show huge red towers rising up in stages from ground level. Tiny workers clamber over the immense beams, threading in cables as the two young observers look up. In both her main account and her afterword, Partridge provides clear pictures of the project's many challenges; in the latter, she adds a nod to the construction crews--in particular, the group of skilled Mohawk ironworkers--and acknowledges the 11 men who died despite stringent safety precautions. As the two children lead the inaugural crowd surging onto the finished bridge to the sound of foghorns on a May day in 1937, it's hard not to join in the giddy rush.

"People say it's impossible," begins this sprawling history of the now-iconic Golden Gate Bridge's construction. Narrated from the perspective of a lighthouse keeper's children, who watch the building over several years, the accounting reveals how naysayers believe the distance is too great, the fog too dense, the wind and tides too strong. The children watch as dynamite blows away stone, creating a site to anchor suspension cables. Heck (A Is for Bee) divides the spreads horizontally throughout. Larger views above show construction workers at work on various parts of the bridge ("Workers climb/ and clamber, reach, jump, and swing--acrobats/ suspended between water and sky"), while a narrower ribbon below shows the entire site with new additions in the bridge's signature vermilion, a device that makes every stage of the project clear. When the cables are successfully strung across the bay and the bridge begins to take its familiar silhouette, "No one is saying impossible anymore." Building to the subject's 1937 opening--and a busy scene of the public walking the bridge--this work carefully recalls the experience of witnessing an era-specific infrastructure project. Protagonists are portrayed with pale skin. An afterword offers further context. Ages 5--8. (Oct.)

Gr 1--3--Readers observe, along with the lighthouse keeper's children, the construction of San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge as it slowly spans the strait. Various stages from the four years of work it took to build the bridge are described with enough detail to satisfy those hungry for facts and stats. For instance, the riveting gang "drives 350 rivets a day" with "600,000 sturdy rivets" holding each tower together. Mixed media illustrations capture the "fog and wind and pounding surf" that are the constant companions of the workers as they pour concrete, string cables, and blast bedrock. A bottom panel across each spread shows the progress of the construction, with elements of the bridge highlighted in iconic orange against the blues and grays of the water and sky. The first of these panels shows the foreman rolling out the blueprints as the work begins; the last shows him rolling them back up when the work is done. Details in the afterword include the names of some of the workers and an explanation for the final color of the bridge. VERDICT A well-researched and excellent addition to STEM classes and library collections.--Suzanne Costner

"Cold winter winds rattle your window and the blast of the foghorn weaves into your morning dreams, warning ships away from the rocky cliffs behind you." In a second-person narrative voice, Partridge (Parks for the People, rev. 3/22) follows the 1930s construction of the Golden Gate Bridge through the eyes of two fictional siblings, the children of one of the workers. This enables her to highlight key events, simplify complex processes, and weave in compelling factual details. Double-page spreads feature the children observing the construction from up close and from afar. Inset illustrations zoom in to provide extra detail about the construction work, while the bottom of every spread provides a visual timeline of the bridge's progress. Heck's textured art, varied compositions, and striking color choices (blues and greens contrast with the famous reddish orange) provide the appropriate mood and gravitas for the accomplishment of such a noted architectural wonder and historical landmark. An informative afterword provides intriguing additional details such as the challenges presented by tides and currents; the expert Mohawk Indians who came west and worked as riveters; and the choice of the iconic International Orange. Jonathan HuntSeptember/October 2024 p.104 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.