How Emily Saved the Bridge by Frieda Wishinsky

Thanks to Emily Roebling's persistence, the bridge was built and did NOT collapse. Bestemor Hanna feared for her life and worried she would drop her new baby in the rush to escape. How did I not know about her, especially since we have a family story about my 2xs great-grandmother standing on the Brooklyn Bridge a week after it opened when someone yelled the bridge was collapsing. The illustrations are a bit strange (especially the bright red noses) and the text is lengthy for a picture book, but the story is inspiring. I enjoyed learning about Emily and what it took to build the bridge, but also how she overcame social conventions and did what she felt needed to be done. This is a unique and little known story about the Brooklyn Bridge. Emily went on to study law and fight for women’s rights. Washington’s wife, Emily Roebling, took over the project and learned everything she could about the bridge taking the project to it’s finish.

John’s son, Washington, took over his father’s work on the bridge, but was made ill through his work with the compressed air while digging to the bedrock of the river. John Roebling was trying to build a suspension bridge to connect Manhattan and Brooklyn, but was killed from an injury. NON-FICTION/ PICTURE BOOK Groundwood Books (Ananasi), 2019. How Emily Saved the Bridge by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Natalie Nelson. I wish it all hung together a bit better. I feel like there's a ton of potential in this book. I really like that her writings on women's issues and the fact that she got a law degree are included. Tell me what kind of school it was and how well she did there. It's like she doesn't get to lead her own narrative until everyone else is sick or dead.which might just be because that's the way it happened, but don't tell me her brother got her into school. He gets promoted to the job of bridge building, etc. Her husband decided to marry her in six weeks. I also get that this woman got into this position because of the men in her life, but it feels very male-dominated at the beginning. I feel like there's some good research happening here and I'm glad those details weren't cut, but there needs to be more to them and more joining them together. Part of me likes the little factoids sprinkled here and there, like what a cassion is and how they were sold terrible wire. I have mixed feelings about this way it's all put together. I like the facts about the bridge, I like the fact that this is a story being told, and I like her as a character. The book? There's some fun things about this book.

First of all, these illustrations are not my jam, but I get that they are a style and that style is well done, so okay.