The Hoover Dam: The Story of Hard Times, Tough People and The Taming of a Wild River (Wonders of the World Book) (Hardcover)

by Elizabeth Mann (Author), Alan Witschonke (Illustrator) "It was a sure thing..." (more)
Key Phrases: dam site, Hoover Dam, Black Canyon, Six Companies (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Gr 4-10-The cover proclaims this a "story of hard times, tough people and the taming of a wild river." And that's exactly what it is-as well as an epic tale of adventure and danger. In bringing to life the history of this remarkable feat of modern engineering, Mann notes that at times from March 11, 1931, to February 29, 1936, more than 5000 men worked on the dam, often risking and sometimes losing their lives. Readers meet people like Frank Crowe, the obsessive superintendent of construction, who was far more interested in finishing the job quickly than in the health and safety of his workers. Insets give brief first-person accounts by workers and their families. Witschonke's illustrations are evocative of the period and add to the drama while archival photographs record activities and life in the nearby evolving communities of "Ragtown" and Boulder City. A labeled double gatefold shows the dam site in 1934, at the height of activity. There is definitely enough here to write a research paper, and plenty to keep readers interested while they're doing it. A wonderfully readable, well-organized book filled with fascinating detail.

Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
An epic tale of adventure and danger ... A wonderfully readable, well-organized book filled with fascinating detail. -- Mara Alpert, School Library Journal, December 1, 2001 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Mikaya Press (October 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931414025
• ISBN-13: 978-1931414029
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #884,505 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Look at the times as well as the accomplishment, February 3, 2005

By	Karen Woodworth Roman "www.librarians.info" (DeKalb, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Building the Hoover Dam was hard, dangerous work and many people died constructing it. However, times were so tought, there was no shortage of people willing to work on it. Excellent photos and illustrations and interesting quotes from people who helped build the dam. There is a four-page fold-out diagram that shows how the dam was built. There are dam facts, a list of those who died, and an index at the end of the book. Karen Woodworth Roman, Children's Science Book Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Illustrations are stunning...and well worth my time!, April 28, 2002

By	Lori Littlefield (Maine USA) - See all my reviews

While the information in the book was extremely accurate, it seemed a bit long for this style of a picture book.

As an introduction to our Hoover Dam unit, I opted to focus, instead, on the absolutely stunning illustrations and allow my students to write their own words.

Later in the unit, I made the book available to my students and many found it to be a wonderful reference tool. It was quite complimentary to McBride's: Building Hoover Dam: An Oral History of the Great Depression yet a lot more appropriate for fourth graders.

While Mann's book can be a great classroom reference for a Hoover Dam unit, it is not recommended as a read-aloud.

4.0 out of 5 stars (Mechanically Fatal Sounds) Oh, nooo! -Cause of a Hoover vacuum, December 22, 2008

By	Jake Smithers "The Five Ws and H." (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hoover Dam: The Story of Hard Times, Tough People and The Taming of a Wild River (Wonders of the World Book) (Paperback)

(A person walking downs a construction tunnel dressed in scrappy, grimy clothes, walks past two workers; one stooping down and drinking cool water, who glanced warily upward; the other was coughing uproariously: both workers in the dam, both in the Great Depression. The man continues to walk past till he stops and looks up at you with his rugged, exhausted face and uttered, "Do you know the story?")

Timeline
Planning and preparation (1922-1931) Construction (1931-1936)
The Great Depression (1929-1936)

The Hoover Dam was moored and built in Black canyon, at the southern tip of Nevada (another canyon was optioned and is known as Boulder canyon, but the mineral stone that held it together would have been weak under the strain of the dam's weight, so it was decided against it). Before the plans to build a dam of such magnitude were ever conceptualized, the notion to gain control of the wild and unpredictable Colorado river was in the minds of many people, but especially in the minds of certain businessmen who had their eyes on the river and on a stretch of organically rich yet mostly arid land known as Paradise Valley. This time period was between the late 1800Th and the beginning years of the 1900th. These men saw this as sellable farm land, but there was the Colorado they had to contend with. The river had a tendency to be of near-drought water levels to flooding levels with little warning whatsoever. So to remedy the situation, they built earthen mounds to redirect and irrigate the land, which worked well, for a time, which they probably knew would not hold. Even so, the land became lush, and they able sell the land to farmers and make a handsome profit. Years later, when the Colorado flooded and the earthen mounds failed, the land the farmers had grown to love, would, out of financial distress, be sold to the state, and became something of a nightmarish situation.

The earthen mounds were not built to withstand the Colorado, but the Hoover Dam was.

The illustrator of the book did a great job of making the pictures colorful and photographs convey the hardships of, not only the dam workers, but also the people who lived during the Great Depression. With them, the background writing and segments of personal accounts, which also was done very well, had added gravity to it, making it a very good book. All this being said, I would recommend it as a book taken out of the library instead of being purchased, unless you are absolutely want to buy it.

One of my greatest complaints is not against this book, but against the publisher. This book, contrary to where the subject of the book is located, was printed in China. This might not bother others, but it did me. I suppose, unfortunately, that there is little loyalty for the betterment of one's people and nation these days.

-Jake Smithers