I've been spending just a bit of time thinking about bridges this week. Well, to be more accurate, bridges and tunnels. Because here in the San Francisco area, that is how one gets around. You cross bridges and go through tunnels. Generally, you do these things at the exact same time as many, many other people and therefore, you do them slowly. Which lends itself to a bit of thinking about how the bridges are built, how the tunnels are tunneled. This is especially true at the moment, because the new Bay Bridge is actively under construction and you can't help but notice the skeleton of this new bridge as you drive across the old one.
Mariam seems to have noticed the built environment here in California a bit more on this trip than on previous ones, and the resulting car conversations reminded me of one of our favorite reads on the topic of bridges and the reasons that people build, cross and admire them. Bridges are to Cross by Philemon Sturges (illustrated by Giles Laroche) is a truly enjoyable read, with plenty of detail for mini-engineers who are curious about bridges and the way that they are constructed. As an added bonus, the text is accompanied by brightly colored cut paper illustrations that are themselves enough of a reason to pick this one up.
Bridges Are to Cross got the Inspired by Literature treatment in Volume Three of Alphabet Glue, so many of you may have had a chance to give this one a well-deserved read. If not, click the link below for a PDF file containing the last couple of pages of Volume Three. You'll find a bit more information about the book, as well as a fun kitchen-table engineering project to go along with it.
