Construction People

by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Ellen Shi (Illustrator)

A Kirkus Reviews Best BookAn NCTE Notable Poetry BookFourteen poems compiled by award-winning poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins introduce readers to the various construction people who collaborate to create a high-rise hotel building, from architect to crane operator to glaziers and more.How does an empty lot transform into a new hotel? This anthology begins with a busy construction site, and an architect's (and her daughter's) dreams drawn on blueprint paper. Next, workers with huge machines--backhoes, dump trucks, cement mixers, etc.--roll in. Poems full of noise and action describe every step of the construction process. From welders and carpenters building the skeleton of the building to plumbers and electricians making its insides work, this book celebrates people and equipment working together to build something magnificent.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, Construction

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 17, 2020

About the author

Lee Bennett Hopkins was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017. He holds a Guinness Book of Records citation for compiling the most anthologies for children. He has also received the Christopher Award, the Regina Medal, and the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award. He lives in Florida.

For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...

Reviews

[Maria Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing from the building's point of view, Rebecca Kai Dotlich's opening poem, "What Will I Become?," and her closing poem, "What I Am," perfectly bookend this anthology. With the building proclaiming it is, "[a] storied tower called splendid." A tower built of both physical and literary stories. The illustrations also beautifully bookend the anthology by introducing a mother and daughter team during the architect's drafting and showing their visit to the completed tower on the final page.
With a cast diverse in ethnicity, gender, and age, the fourteen poems explore the people and machines responsible for the creation of a city skyscraper. Each poem features a different poet and poetic form detailing the pride and actions of numerous individuals involved in the process. From the vehicles (backhoe operators, dump truck drivers, crane operators) to the individuals (welders, carpenters, and plumbers). It even includes the construction project manager, glazers, and elevator installers.
The masterful rhyme and rhythm of the poems, use of onomatopoeia, and word play make this fun to read and sure to enthrall and delight children and parents interested in vehicles, tools, engineering, construction, and poetry. Phrases like "wizards of the weld," "an iron maze," "hoist and climb," and "sky's everchanging face," combine with beautifully detailed illustrations of the job site to create a #STEAM book that teachers will enjoy for its educational use as well.

[Tim McCanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a well-constructed book! A truly engaging examination of all the people who contribute to a skyscraper's rise to glory. From the architect's desk to ground breaking, to welding and installing elevators--each step gets a perfect poem and a colorful, active illustration. One personal favorite was Matt Forrest Esenwine's spread about a Construction Project Manager. With humor, detail, repetition, and rhyme, Esenwine perfectly encapsulates a job most people might not think twice about. But here, it's a celebration of hard work, persistence, and planning. Highly recommended.

[Diana Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful collection of construction poems from renowned children's poets! They cover everything from architecture and big machinery operation, to electricians, glaziers, elevator installers, and project managers. The illustrations are fun, detailed, and feature a diverse crew. Sure to inspire interest in STEM fields!

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A picture book poetry anthology about all the people who contribute to a skyscraper's rise to glory, from architects to crane operators.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 STARS. I appreciate the concept but it didn’t really wow me. Nice to see both men and women in the construction jobs and the poetry is a nice cheer of pace. As with most poetry collections, I liked some more than others. Kids liked it fine but no requests for rereads.

[michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the poems were only okay, but I loved how the illustrations included females in the various construction jobs which is primarily a male environment.

[Sunday · Rating 4 out of 5]

NCTE 2021 Notable Poetry Book

A collection of poems on a nonfiction topic!!!

Easy to read aloud. Easy for young readers to make sense of and enjoy.
Each poet's poem focuses on a particular job at the construction site -
architect,
backhoe operator,
dump truck drivers,
welder,
carpenter,
plumber,
glaziers (who knows about that?),
elevator installers,
electricians,
project managers!!!

The illustrations are kid-friendly and feature a racially diverse group of workers. (The architect is identified as "she.")

ONE WISH - A central theme in this book - in the poems and the illustrations - appears to be that it takes a wide variety of people (and tools and machines) to build a sky-scraper. However, from what I can surmise (which means I may be wrong), the thirteen poets all appear to be White. The illustrator, Ellen Shi, appears to be the only person of color who worked on this collection. This seems like a missed opportunity.

PARTNER THIS TEXT WITH -
*The rhyming text "Someone Builds the Dream" by Lisa Wheeler and Loren Long (2021) about all of the people who made the designs, plans, ideas of engineers, scientists, authors actually come true - the people who do the work to make those plans come true.
*This would pair well with the "Amazing Machines" series by Quinn Arnold (pub The Creative Company) that features a book on each type of machine - backhoes, bulldozers, concrete mixers, cranes, excavators, dump trucks. (There's also a "Seedlings" series for even younger readers.)

[Lauren Kerstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an exciting and fun read about all of the different people who contribute to our beautiful skylines. Children will love the poems and beautiful illustrations.

[Samantha R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focusing on a single topic of construction, various construction workers join together in creating and developing a high-rise building. Each contraction job holds an important purpose in building the high-rise and the reader is taken through pages of transformation. This book was a Kirkus Review Best Book and a NCTE Notable Poetry Book. The poems were selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and are intended for readers of ages four through eight years old. Hopkins was once recognized as "the world's most prolific anthologist of poetry for children" by Guinness World Records.

Welders, Electricians, Carpenters, and other workers, detail every step of constructing the high-rise through words which readers can hear and imagine. All of these essential workers collaborate and inform readers of their purpose. Readers get a glimpse of their daily jobs and the difficult tasks needed to be accomplished. These poems include rhyming and the illustrations help guide the specific steps taken. The words of the poems help readers create an image about construction and even the specific sounds included in the process are depicted. This would be a great book to share with students regarding social studies. In first grade we discuss a lot about community helpers and I would love to share this book because it contains a lot of detail. My students always wonder how construction worker jobs operate and these poems would make for productive classroom discussion.

[Melissa Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

From dump truck drivers to electricians, from glaziers to architects, this collection of poems gives readers a peek into what it's like to work on a construction site. I enjoyed reading this fun poetry anthology about a topic that doesn't seem very poetic at first. I like how it shows that everyone's job is important and that it takes many people working together to create a building.

For Dr. Day's reading challenge:
Copyright: 2020
Awards: NCTE Notable Poetry Books award (2021)
Genre: Poetry
I would love to use this book in my classroom to introduce poetry to any of my students who are interested in construction or heavy equipment of who have parents or family members who work in construction. Some of the poems in this book might also be good to use in a math class to show some professions that use math.

[Brandon Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this gem of a book while searching through the NCTE Award for Excellence in Children’s Poetry list for 2021 and I have got to say it was worth the look. The picturebook has poems about each group that helps to put together buildings such as the architects and carpenters. The poems for each group are fun and speak about their jobs which makes this a wonderful tool for teaching children about construction. You can explain what each job does and can focus on specific jobs that your students are interested in. The art is fun visually as we get a closer look at the jobs and the colors are outstanding to look at. Over all this is a wonderful story and I would definitely recommend it to a teacher.

[Macie Hall]

(NCTE Excellence in Poetry Award)
This book talks about all the different types of construction crew members that are involved with building big industrial building and hotels, parking garages, stores, plus more. It describes each role that everyone has and helps kids have a better idea of all the roles that are needed to make such buildings.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poems by different poets about a variety of workers who make a skyscraper possible. I liked some of the poems much more than others, but I appreciate there being a book showing all of these different roles.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gets an extra star from me for the concept and inclusion in the book. We picked this up expected a typical construction book, so I was happy to see that it wasn't populated entirely by white men. Some of the poems were more of a hit than others, and the illustrations helped draw kids in.

[Christina Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book illustrates different construction material, types of construction workers, and buildings for children to see and learn about. Whiling giving all this information to kids, it does it in a fun and colorful way.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must not have read the book blurb before getting this from the library. My 5 year old wanted something that included plumbing. This does, but I was expecting a story, not poems. He did OK with it but not what we were expecting.

[Caroline Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was such a cute way to see all the different jobs there are in construction. From the types of vehicles used to carpenters, it highlights each job and what it entails in a colorful, enlightening way!

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cool collection of poems that show how people build our cities from the ground clear up the skies, each line beating with the rhythm of a city springing to life.

[A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just didn't grab me.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice range of poems really like the flow and progression.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of poems about the various jobs done by those that construct and build.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poems about the machines and people used to take a construction site from empty lot to skyscraper.

This is an anthology of works by different authors.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poems about the people who create buildings; nicely done.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for this collection of poems celebrating the unnamed constructors of skyscrapers

[Averie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that talks about all of the different jobs within construction. This book is great to show that there are many different jobs out in the world. realistic fiction 2020

[Sarah Denney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bet young people would love this book! Construction seems to fascinate a lot of children and to have a book like this in my library would probably be a hit!

[Alene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of poems by multiple poets and writers.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of construction-themed poetry. We're purchasing a copy for our truck-obsessed son. The artwork and poetry are both beautiful.

[Anita]

Not a storytime pick; however, for kids/parents that like poetry/lyrical books. Each poem features a different job in the construction profession.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew there were poems about construction workersI didn’t. Lee Bennett Hopkins has collected fourteen poems in this picture book which describe the building of a high rise office building. And each poem describes the type of work that a specific construction specialist performs. Beginning with the architect and ending with the electricians we see the building become reality in the illustrations. This title would be well used in a unit on careers.