Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 10/28/2024 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.)■ - Copyright 2024

School Library Journal - 12/30/2024 Gr 1–5—"They sat with their feet dangling in thirty-five stories of air, eating lunch with the best views in the world. Generation after generation, skywalkers sculpted city skylines that pierced the clouds." The history of how Iroquois came to be well-known steel workers begins with the Caughnawaga requiring a railroad company to hire their people as workers on a bridge project in exchange for land. The Caughnawaga were considered "unskilled labor" but proved their skills and comfort with height. This led to more jobs on construction sites and skywalkers worked on major projects from infrastructure to buildings. A bridge collapse during construction was a tragedy with "Almost every tribal family losing a skywalker." The skywalkers continued in construction to support their families, and honored their lost with a memorial. Watercolor spreads, drawn primarily in soft blues, show men walking on cables or sitting on beams. The colors change to yellow and gray tones during disasters. The perspectives are mostly from looking up to the sky or the workers looking down, mixed with some panoramic drawings. The author notes their family's participation in steelwork, information about the bridge collapse, glossary, and a list of some the projects. VERDICT This fascinating narrative provides an in-depth history of skywalkers, the Caughnawaga, and their contributions to our cities and infrastructure. Strong first buy.—Tamara Saarinen - Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.