Sky Boys

Book #16

Sky Boys

Written by Deborah Hopkins

Illustrated by James E. Ransome

Sky Boys is a riveting brick-by-brick account of how one of the most amazing accomplishments in American architecture came to be. The Sky Boys balanced on beams and the water boy carried gallons of water to the crew. Over a year later the project is complete. Join a young boy as he watches the Empire State Building being constructed from scratch, then travels to the top to look down on all of New York City in 1931. Many people saw this building as a symbol of hope during a very dark time.

ACTIVITY: Get that set of wood blocks out and see how many stories high you can make your building. Have your kids try different designs, ask them how to make the base more stable, what if they rotated the blocks. I’m sure most of you build on a daily basis if you have young children but this time tell them they have to build the tallest tower that ever existed and they get to name it when they are finished!