Hard Hat Area

by Susan L. Roth

A unique day-in-the-life look at a real girl named Kristen who works as an ironworkers apprentice on some of New York City's tallest buildings. Following Kristen around the construction site, readers will learn what tools the workers use, how they use them, and how they work as a team. With a fascinating variety of materials, labels, and photographs from an actual site where Kristen worked, Susan L. Roth has created a masterpiece of creative collage-and an eye-popping learning experience for readers of all ages.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Susan L. Roth creates unique mixed-media collage illustrations that have appeared in numerous award-winning children’s books, many of which she also wrote. Her book, Listen to the Wind, spent a year on the New York Times best seller list. The Mangrove Tree, which was released in 2011 and addressed Dr. Gordon Sato's mangrove tree-planting project, was the winner of Jane Addams Children's Book Award. Roth lives in New York.

Reviews

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever I write a review post I start by looking for other blog reviews of the book. In the case of Hard Hat Area by Susan L Roth I'm surprised that I can't find any.

Hard Hat Area is a walk through of how a skyscraper is built and many of the different jobs that go into such an undertaking. The book follows an ironworks apprentice as she goes through the day running errands and doing odd jobs across the site. This is how all apprentices learn the ropes before the begin to specialize.

In the end notes, the author includes biographical information about the real Kristen who inspired the book. I love that this book is a straight up construction book. It will appeal to any child interested in learning how things are built. The fact that the main character is a real woman working in construction is just icing on an otherwise delightful book.

The illustrations are done in a style similar to Eric Carle's. It has visual appeal especially for children who have been raised on Carle's books. At the same time though, there is enough detail shown that with the provided labels, children (and adults) can learn the terminology.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly in-depth survey of all the iron workers’ jobs on a site. Every different job is explained including the tools.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would be an excellent book for an older child that loves learning about building sites

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

The nonfiction story comes from real life. But then it's illustrated with collages.

If you're an artsy Goodreader, you'll like this book a lot more than I did.

Otherwise? This is the story of Kristen, a non-fictional person who works as an ironworker's apprentice. Actually, she works on some of New York City's tallest buildings.

Following Kristen around the construction site, readers learn what tools the workers use, how they use them, and how all the workers put the TEAM in TEAMwork.

RATING THIS BOOK

My policy is to rate books in terms of the intended readers. These would, I suspect, LIKE the combo of the info and the collages. Unlike me.

I find the illustratons respect-worthy, but personally don't find them credible. Likewise, the many games played with fonts, typesetting the text on the pages? Personally, inwardly, I'm shouting, "Wrong. Wrong. Wrong."

But for the intended readers, sure. FIVE STARS. Many readers will totally love this book.

[Serious Storytime Shenanigans]

12.08.22 Storytime 17 ages 4-5
Introduction and announcements: Bread and Butter
Book one: Construction Cat by Barbara Odanaka
Song/rhyme/game one: Johnny Had One Hammer
Book two: Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker
Song/rhyme/game two: Drivin’ in my Car by Ralph’s World
Book three: Hard Hat Area by Susan L. Roth
Song/ rhyme/ game three: Here’s a house
Activity: https://acropolis-wp-content-uploads....

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wordy picture book introduces the construction worksite and its many jobs. Cool collage illustrations!

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Detailed, but a little too detailed. Interesting illustrations...actual pictures added to cut-and-paste type illustrations. I think a child would get bored with the book. It's too long and tedious. I lost interest very quickly.

[L · Rating 1 out of 5]

I understand the intention of this book - to show children what happens on a construction site - and I did also find it informative in terms of identifying and defining vocabulary. But...quite frankly, I found it to be outdated and sexist. The entire role of the main female character on the construction site was to get all of the other workers (mainly men) their coffee and food. I was hoping for a book that would show women in a male-dominated profession at the same level as men, but instead, this book reduced the main character to little more than a waitress. There is an author's note at the end that says this is what an apprentice does, regardless of gender, but it could be easily missed by readers.

Overall, there are better construction site picture books out there for children that show women in a much more equal light. Even if you might think, oh my child will only notice the pictures and construction site, this sort of underlying message will do more harm than good.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is chuck full of information on iron workers. What they do, their titles, why each role is important, their tools and how/ where they work. We are a bit young for it, but I can see it being a big hit in the end.

The only draw back was the feminist push. The main character, apprentice, is Kristen and the author goes to trouble to point out that she is just doing the little jobs because she is an apprentice, not because she is a woman, and that there are a lot of opportunities for women in construction. Yada yada.

The main character as Kristen the apprentice was fine, but the editorializing was cumbersome. It's a children's book. My son doesn't really care one way or the other, and I think this distracted from an otherwise engaging and well done book.

[Hector Gutierrez · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a hard read, i felt like the vocabulary terms at each page were hard to blend in with the story. I honestly just wanted the book to end. I also did not like the fact that Kristen the "apprentice" was a waitress the whole book. Even though the author says at the end of the book that this is what apprentices do so they can gain confidence at those heights, it still bothered me that she was the only female in the book. As a teacher I wouldn't show this book in my class, because I feel like it would put my girls down.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is interesting to learn about ironworkers. Kristen, an apprentice ironworkers, walks all around the building site becoming familiar with people and bringing them food.

There is a lot of information packed into this picture book. Each page has 5-7 vocabulary terms, and a full paragraph of text. The information is overwhelming, even for adult readers. It is very hard to follow any story, because you are lost in words. But, very informational.

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that there's a female protagonist. The author justifies that her entire job is getting snacks by stating that she's an apprentice. I wonder how accurate that is, since my partner is in the trades as an apprentice and does real work. However, there is another female character who's a journeywoman and is shown to do real work.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book about Kristen, an iron worker apprentice. Gives lots of facts. Mosaic illustrations.

[Mills College Library]

Picture R845hh 2004

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations are beautiful and creative. My son longs nonfiction and especially about things like construction and he loves this book. Also, portrays male and female construction workers and that's always a bonus in our family as we have a son and two daughters.