My youngest was obsessed with this one. I loved its celebration of the amazing accomplishments of the workers, and the context of what it meant to the people watching it rise.

A nice, rosy-eyed historical fiction tribute to the construction workers who thrust the Empire State Building to a record height into the sky during the Great Depression. ( )

Sky boys describes the majesty and amazement of a child's perspective as he experiences the empire state building being built. The strong, sturdy building built my strong, muscular men was a sight to see for all admiring the history-making hard work. Deborah Hopkinson and James E. Ransome heighten the reader's wonder by providing details of materials, accurate numbers from the progression of the building, step-by-step strategies used by the men, and vivid paintings of the daring job and successful finish. Hopkinson uses extensive words or phrases in a series which plays on the extensive work that the men put in constructing the building. There is a spectacular story behind this jewel of NYC. ( )

In this book, the reader is portrayed as the son in the story. The son informs the father that there there is construction for a skyscraper in the city, but his father isn't convinced that the project will ever finish. The story goes on to show the building progress, and when it finally finishes the father buys them a ticket to go up to the top. When they are up at the top the father says "If we can do this, we can do anything". I think this is a very important part of the story because it is when the father realizes how amazing it is that the building was created and finished. To the boys father, it seemed impossible at first for the building to be finished, but he realizes that nothing is impossible. I think this is a great book to read to kids at this age because it teaches them to not give up even when things seem impossible. ( )

The story “Sky Boys” takes place in New York in the year of 1931. The book tells the story of how the ,National Historic Landmark, Empire State Building was built. The story also takes place during the Great Depression. The story is told by a young boy that describes every worker and event he sees while watching the Empire State Building being built. During the 1930’s there was not really a lot of machines to help build buildings. There was a lot of men climbing, balancing on beams, hammering iron, and etc. in order to build the Historic building. The building also gave a lot of people jobs during the Great Depression. Once the building is complete it brings the entire town together. It brings the town excitement and happinesses. It gives the town hope outside of dealing with the Great Depression.

I liked this read a lot because the illustration really gives a great visual to children’s imagination. I also liked how the books focus was on the workers and the building. I think children would enjoy this read. It feels like you are the young boy when you are reading and the building is being built before your eyes. ( )