Rachel Dougherty

"Like many girls, [Emily Warren] studied sewing and piano. Unlike many girls, she also studied math and science." She married Washington Roebling, whose father was designing the Brooklyn Bridge; John sent Washington - and Emily, at her insistence - to Europe to learn more about caissons, a new bridge-building technology. When John died and Washington became ill (with the bends), Emily took over as his "eyes and ears. And legs. And arms." Emily managed the construction of the bridge and was show more the first person to ride across it in a carriage, a week before the grand opening.

Clever illustrations show not only the characters in the story in period clothes, but illustrations of the bridge in progress, with important vocabulary placed appropriately (e.g. "catenary curve" along the steel cables, vertical cables called "suspenders" hanging down, and "stays," the cables that came down diagonally from the towers.

Back matter includes an author's note, more about Emily, a glossary, select bibliography, further reading; endpapers include drawings and then-and-now photographs of the bridge.

Excellent addition to women in STEM picture book biographies.
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Re-read March 2025 show less

I really enjoyed read this story. This is a great true story about a woman stepping up and working hard to make dreams into reality. It is a great story to use in class to introduce engineering. It would be better though with the older grades because although it is a good story it also has more technical information about how the bridge was actually build that might be harder for younger children to understand what is going on as they listen to the story. It would be great way to include show more engineering to a history lesson. show less

Between the well written biography of what Emily did and the illustrations helping to give a wonderful visual of the process and thinking a reader has a greater understanding of what Emily (and Washington) did to make the Brooklyn Bridge possible.

This book tells the story of Emily Roebling, the wife of an engineer. When her husband became ill during the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, Emily's knowledge saved the day. She broke gender barriers and contributed to one of today's most iconic landmarks.
This is a good addition to any science or math classroom library. While math and science have long been subjects of study that are male dominated, this book shows the contribution that one woman made. It also shows how she did not let show more gender barriers stand in the way of progress. show less