Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building by Deborah Hopkinson & James E. Ransome

Sky Boys takes the reader back to the Depression Era through the eyes of a young boy who places his hope in the construction of the Empire State Building, the building so tall "it will scrape the sky."

The boy's father has just lost his job and along with his job all hope of a better tomorrow.  When the boy announces to his father one day that Mr. Raskob will be building the tallest skyscraper in the world, his father replies, Things are so bad, it seems foolish to even try."  But the boy believes in the building and so he watches the construction week-by-week until after just over a year later, the building is officially dedicated on March 18, 1931.

Hopkins uses the boy to present information to the reader about the Empire State Building's construction and the Sky Boys, who climbed higher than ever before to build the tallest building of its time.  Accompanied by James E. Ransom's illustrations, Hopkins explains the four-man system of riveting used on the construction site.  Though a seamless order of "Toss-catch-steady-pound.  Toss-catch-steady-pound." the four-men team placed "one or two rivets a minute, five hundred rivets a day."  While some men riveted, others hoisted limestone, pipes and wires.  And still others crawled, spun, and banged.  Amidst all the fury of construction, Hopkins does not let the reader forget about the dismal job situation through italicized verse at the bottom of each page.  Hopkins sings of the ease of replacing one worker for another who will work for lower pay.

Ransome's illustrations add depth to the sheer scale of the Empire State Building and the sorrows of those without jobs.  Ransome's illustrations include a painting of the 2010 red columns sunk 55 feet into the ground to give the building a solid base, and a week-by-week progression of the building's construction.  Perhaps what is most touching are the facial expressions of the people of Ransome's illustrations.  In one picture depicting the boy dreaming of the building-to-be, the reader sees hoped etched on his face.  In another illustration of unemployed men waiting in line hoping to be employed, the reader can see quiet desperation.  Ransome's medium of oil painting gives the illustrations an antique look that bring the reader into a world of eighty years ago.

The Empire State Building upon its completion on March 18, 1931, was the tallest building in the world.  It held the title for 40 years.  Though the Empire State Building no longer olds the title of tallest building in the word, it remains a powerful symbol of hope for many.   For a complete history on the Empire State Building, visit its official site.