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Saturday Review
1958
page 42: The Skyscraper. Written and illustrated Yen Liang. Lippincott, $2.95.
The various steps in the construction of a great building, a skyscraper, are shown in brief text and large, dramatic drawings. The planning stage brings together bankers and architects, engineers and construction experts; the building stage includes demolition, excavation, installation of services, and concrete and steel work; the final stage shows people living and working with adequate space and conveniences. A secondary theme of this book points up the advantages of city planning and rehabilitation of slum areas. Though in picture-book format, the illustrations will attract children of all ages who are fascinated as they watch the buildings that are going up on almost any street in almost any town across the country. — F. L. S.
The Horn Book Magazine
Volume 35, 1959
page 32: Yen Liang, Author-Illustrator
The Skyscraper
48 pp. 8 1/4” x 10 3/4"
Lippincott 2.95
A spacious picture book describes with imagination the changes in an old city after citizens have decided that “buildings one on top of the other” shall replace the small ones crowding narrow streets. The two-color drawings, which indicate many steps and machines used in erecting a great skyscraper, will naturally captivate children. Created by a well-known artist-architect who shared in the planning of the United Nations building in New York. V.H.
Related posts: Dee-Dee’s Birthday, Tommy and Dee-Dee, The Pot Book, Happy New Year, About the Artist: Yen Liang
(Next post on Monday: Yen Liang’s Happy New Year)
I just came across a copy of this book. It is amazing how ideas about cities evolve! Compare this with Jane Jacobs, with the pencil buildings now going up in New York, with concerns about urban community, with the failure of high-rise public housing in many parts of the US.
ReplyDeleteNot to say he was wrong! Just that ideas and visions can be so different on the same issues. He never mentions, for example, where everyone moved when everything in the city was bulldozed!