To Walk the Sky: How Iroquois Steelworkers Helped Build Towering Cities

Mohawk author and PW contributor Buckley (First Woman Cherokee Chief), making her picture book debut, and Lenni-Lenape artist Lewis (Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem) honor the contributions of Iroquois steelworkers, known as “skywalkers” for their ability to balance atop narrow beams in construction sites. This well-contextualized work starts “in the days of great-great-grandfathers,” when Mohawks from eastern Canada’s Caughnawaga reserve couldn’t find work outside it. An agreement between a bridge company and tribal elders ensured employment for Caughnawagans, who eventually earned better wages working atop the bridge: “The bosses called them skywalkers, astonished by the Mohawks’ steadfast balance.... Most of all, they took great pride in creating a legacy of landmarks.” Historical vignettes detail a 1907 bridge collapse that killed 33 skywalkers from Caughnawaga, and discuss how following 9/11, skywalkers “volunteered to dismantle what their fathers and uncles had built decades before.” Today, skywalkers continue to work on sky-high structures, “building a future on steel beams high in the air.” Graceful language honors skywalkers throughout this stirring telling, while fluidly rendered watercolor illustrations in a desaturated color palette employ sweeping perspective and scale. Extensive back matter includes an author’s note. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)■