Rachel Dougherty
I have always been fascinated by anyone who is able to think outside of the box. I am such an inside of the box thinker. It's hard for my brain to even process how people come up with new inventions, because I just don't think like that. I was talking to my co-worker about it last year while discussing blood pressure. Like, someone really figured out a way to listen to how fast or slow your blood flows...what?!? It's mind boggling to me. I especially love when the people accomplishing incredible feats are women and/or minorities, because, well...#underrated and #underappreciated. (Not by everyone, I know...but we still have a long road to equality ahead of us).
"Crowds gathered on both riverbanks, and on boats in between, to celebrate the great feat of engineering--never even knowing about the contributins of an insistent woman named Emily Roebling."
So, what did I think?
4 out of 5 Stars
This is the picture book biography of Emily Roebling. As a young girl, she was always interested in science and math. She ended up marrying a man with her same interests. In fact, her father-in-law was thought to be one of the greatest engineers of the time period. He came up with an idea to create the Brooklyn bridge, connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan. However, he died before they could start building the bridge, leaving his son, Washington, to take over the project. When Washington became ill, it was up to his wife, Emily to take over. She studied and learned everything that she could about engineering and bridge construction, and she became the lead on the construciton of the bridge, and saw it through to completion. And most people had no idea...because a woman enginner at this time, was unheard of. And if people knew that Emily was leading this project, they likely would have stood up to her and refused to move forward until there was a man in charge.
What a great book for showing that women are just as capable as men. I love that she got to do something that she was interested in, and accomplish such an incredible feat. And, she didn't even do it for selfish reasons, (though I wouldn't be mad at her if she did). Her husband needed her, and she stepped up and did what she had to do. The construction of the Brooklyn bridge is fascinating to me. I have always wondered how in the heck they build things under water, (remember...not an outside of the box thinker!) This book did a great job of teaching about caissons, which are used to do just this. And, they did it in a way that both children and adults alike could understand. I also very much enjoyed the photographs of the construciton. Fascinating!
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