Pop's Bridge

This book is about how the Golden Gate Bridge was built and how a boy's father helped out. The boy and his friend, who also has a father helping to build the bridge, watch their fathers everyday build the bridge. During the building, there is a celebration for the bridge. One day, a terrible

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accident happens and men fall off the bridge, but luckily both of their fathers are safe. After that accident, people are not cheering but remembering what happened, but once it's complete everyone is happy and cheering that it is finally complete. At the end, there is a jigsaw puzzle that the boys were working on and the boys let both of their fathers complete the puzzle for it is of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This book is informational about the Golden Gate Bridge and it gave me insight into a tragedy that I didn't know happened. The artwork is good by showing the reader images of the bridge from a boy's point of view. I like this book for not only was it about the Golden Gate Bridge, it was also about family and unity of workers.

This is a good book to read to your class if you are teaching about the Golden Gate Bridge. This is also good if your children are having a hard time getting along or having a hard time working togehter on a project.

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Most appropriate for use in first and second grade classrooms. This Eve Bunting book, tells this story of a boy named Robert, whose father is one of the men building the Golden Gate Bridge. This book is set in San Francisco in the 1930's, when the Golden Gate Bridge was being built. The boy's

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friend's father is also part of the construction team. Although this invention is amazing, one day the scaffolding breaks and part of the bridge, along with some of the workers, falls off. Even though neither of the boys' fathers were harmed, the event still greatly affected Robert. The story shows it takes a team to achieve impossible feats. The illustrations are stunningly detailed and realistic. Personally, they are reminiscent of Norman Rockwell paintings.
Uses in classroom:
-Independent reading
-Read Aloud
-Genre Study/Unit: Family history, Family, Friendships
-Lesson on landmarks in history
-Text to world and text to self connections - ask students a time they worked with others to achieve something they couldn't on their own
-Inferring, questioning
-Discuss how different features and details (visually and textually) give clues to and evidence of the time period

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In my opinion, this book was very good, and although it was a realism fictional book, it also gave some real facts about the Golden Gate Bridge. The language in this text was very descriptive and helped you feel like you were there, watching the bridge be built. “He climbs so high that sometimes

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clouds come down around his shoulders,” this part in the book is talking about his pop on the top of the bridge. I could visualize how high his pop was due to the description the author gave of the clouds. The illustrations are also very powerful and help enhance the story. Near the end of the story, where his pop and Charlie’s dad put the final puzzle piece in together, and say, “team effort”, the illustration shows them doing this and really ties the story together and makes you see what a team effort building the bridge was. The message the author was trying to get across was that a lot of things must be a team effort and although the boy felt like it was “pop’s bridge”, so many people contributed to build the bridge. At the end of the story, the boy realized this and was cheerful, knowing that his pop helped build the most beautiful bridge in the world.

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“Pop’s Bridge” enlightens students on the importance of teamwork and that everyone plays a valuable role in an activity or job. Most children look up to their parents and believe that whatever they do in life is the most important job, just like the boy in the book. Eve Bunting is trying to

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teach children that even though their parents have important jobs, that other people also have important jobs too. This book helps students value all people. It is very important to understand this as a young child so when they grow up they don’t believe that they are better than anyone else. It also allows them to have a better understanding and respect for their peers who may have parents that work in all sorts of jobs.

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I liked this book for three reasons. First, the descriptive language within the book was very powerful. For example, “He climbs so high that sometimes clouds come down around his shoulders,” this sentence in the book is talking about his father who is on the top of the bridge. The descriptive

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language the author used allows the reader to visualize how high up his father is. Next, the illustrations were colorful, bright, and unique. Each illustration showed the teamwork it took to complete given tasks. Lastly, the character development of each character within the book was realistic. For example, the young boy looks up to his Pop in the story and thinks that his father has the “best” job. Many children often think this, but most importantly the author wants young readers to value others. Overall, the main idea of this story is the importance of teamwork.

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Summary:
Pop's Bridge tells the story of a young boy who watches his father work to build the Golden Gate Bridge as a sky walker. He believes his father has the most important job of the crew, even more important than his friend's father who works as a painter. However, one day there is a terrible

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accident and a few men die. Thereafter, he realizes every crew member's job is equally important because they work as a team. Soon after, the bridge is built and everyone celebrates the opening day of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Review:"Pop's Bridge" is an heartwarming story that showcased great moral values. In the story, a young boy believed his father had the most important job of the Golden Gate Bridge crew but after an accident, he realized that everyone's job is dangerous and they all equally work together as a team. The change in the young boy's perspective of the crew was realistic because it showed his admiration for his father as well as lessons learned from his experiences.

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I really liked the background of this book and the meaning behind it. It started off with a boy's father being on the team that built the Golden Gate bridge. He was a "skywalker" and the boys best friend Charlie's dad was a painter. Every day the two boys would go and watch the bridge being built

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through their binoculars. They were also finishing a puzzle of the Golden Gate bridge, but one day the boy took the last puzzle piece and saved it because he felt that since his dad built the bridge it was only right if he could put the last puzzle piece in. One day there was an accident that killed men on the bridge, the two fathers were safe, but that night the boy realized that this wasn't only his "pop's bridge", that skywalker's and painters were equal because it was a dangerous job for everyone involved. Once the bridge was built, the two families had a party and the boy decided top cut the last puzzle piece in half so both of the father's could put it in. I liked this because the boy finally learned what a "team effort" is, and it taught him a lesson. The story was nice and heartfelt and at the end gave a background on the Golden Gate bridge. The illustrations looked like caricatures which was different because I haven't ever seen that in a picture book. I liked that this book could be put into a historical fiction category as well because it teaches the history to children without it being boring.

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I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. The story is told by a young boy named, Robert as he recounts the days of his father, Pop, helping to build the Golden Gate Bridge. Pop was a high-iron man or a ":skywalker" as they were called. From Fort Point, Robert and his friend, Charlie

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would watch their father's everyday working on the construction of the bridge. Everyone was very excited about this historical event. While putting a puzzle together that depicted an artist's drawing of the not-yet completed bridge, Robert took one of the pieces and hid it in his room from Charlie, so that he could give it to his pop to complete the last piece of the puzzle since he had one of the hardest jobs and Charlie's father was only a painter.
However, one day while the boys were watching the construction, a piece of scaffolding fell and killed ten men. This happened right where Charlie's father was working. Luckily, he was not one of the men who fell. After the completion of the bridge in May, 1937, Robert took the last puzzle piece and cut it in half. He gave half to his pop and the other half to Charlie's father and together they completed the puzzle. Robert realized that no job was more important than the other on the bridge and that all of the workers were equally brave.
Although these were fictional characters, I learned through the Author's Note in the back of the book, that the accident did happen and the process and importance of the bridge were factual. I had ever even thought about the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and to see it through the eyes of the the fictional character, Robert, made me realize what a great marvel of architecture it is and how amazing it must have been to see it come together.
In addition to the story line, I enjoyed the author's voice and imagery to express the thoughts and feelings of the characters throughout the book. For example, "It's like a giant harp," my pop says. "A harp for the angels to play." The author is explaining the architecture of the bridge and the sound the wind makes as it passes though the cables.

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This is going to be a great "anchor" in differentiating instruction--research skills. What would be the setting? Which president is in this picture?