Children’s book about bridges will be released soon
By: Inka Bajandas in Architecture and Engineering November 19, 2014 4:31 pm
A five-year volunteer effort to create a children’s book highlighting the history and engineering of Portland-metro bridges will culminate next month when 5,000 printed copies are distributed to public schools in Portland and Vancouver, Wash.
About 1,500 copies of “The Big and Awesome Bridges of Portland and Vancouver – a Book for Young Readers and Their Teachers” will be available for sale to the general public, said bridge historian Sharon Wood Wortman, who co-authored the 240-page book with her husband, Ed Wortman, a retired bridge engineer. The pair also co-authored “The Portland Bridge Book,” a guide to metro-area bridges.
The book soon will be for sale online at bigandawesomebridges.org and in the gift shop at the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 S.W. Park Ave. in Portland, Sharon Wood Wortman said. Copies also will be available for purchase on Dec. 7 from noon to 7 p.m. at the Oregon Historical Society’s “Holiday Cheer: a Celebration of Oregon Authors” event and at the “Big and Awesome Bridges” official launch party on Dec. 13 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Community Hall Annex at Portland Community College’s Southeast campus, 2305 S.E. 82nd Ave.
A $25,000 donation from Portland Public Schools helped get the books printed. They will be especially helpful for teaching a bridge unit that has long been a part of the district’s third grade curriculum, Sharon Wood Wortman said.
“The Big and Awesome Bridges of Portland and Vancouver” includes historical information about 22 bridges that cross the Willamette and Columbia rivers in Portland, Oregon City and Vancouver, and interviews with bridge operators and engineers. It also has instructions for teachers to help their students build and load-test their own bridge models.
The printing process is nearly finished. Copies will be ready to deliver to school libraries and classrooms in Portland and Vancouver by mid-December, Sharon Wood Wortman said.
