Those Building Men

Gr 2-5-This poetic tribute praises and remembers the men, "the fathers," who built the bridges, railroads, roads, and buildings in America. They came from far away, looked ahead to linking the waters, moving the earth, channeling the swamps, and creating walls of steel, and when they were done, they'd say "Ain't that something." Moser's large, dramatic, sun-bleached watercolors depict young men in undershirts, far-looking old men in beaten-up hats, Native American skywalkers, African-American drillers and muleskinners, all seen working against the pale blue washed sky. Readers may be intrigued by the book's suggestion that perhaps a relative of theirs could have been a builder long ago and ask about their own family history. The endnote states that oral tradition remembers many cultures at work building and that women who are not mentioned in the text nonetheless labored along with men. It is elegantly and symbolically illustrated with an old man in dress shoes and a suit resting peacefully in a hammock.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA

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