Q&A with Elizabeth Partridge

 

 

Elizabeth Partridge is the author of the new children's picture book Golden Gate: Building the Mighty Bridge. Her many other books include Seen and Unseen. She lives in Berkeley, California.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Golden Gate?

 

A: The Golden Gate Bridge has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, we used to go to a place called Steep Ravine -- a small group of cabins with no electricity or running water -- perched on the rocky coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Driving home meant crossing the bridge -- tired, sunburnt, sandy, and happy.

 

As an adult I see the bridge every day when I take my dogs for a walk in the East Bay hills.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I began researching the book by walking across it to get all the details of actually being there, suspended between water and sky.

 

I also found some amazing books. A favorite of mine is Heroes of the Golden Gate by Charles F. Adams. It was published back in 1987 and the author interviewed a bunch of the guys who had built the bridge decades earlier. Poring through the little details I could unearth was like a treasure hunt. 

 

One of my favorite details I had to leave out was that anyone showing up for work with a hangover was given a ladleful of sauerkraut juice -- reputed to help cure their hangover. A folk remedy I guess!

 

Q: Why did you decide to write the book in second person?

 

A: I originally wrote Golden Gate: Building the Mighty Bridge in second person to put myself right into the manuscript, feeling, seeing, hearing everything. And then... it stuck! It just worked so well for the reader to feel and see and hear everything. Second person can be powerful.

 

Q: What do you think Ellen Heck's illustrations add to the book?

 

A: I was incredibly lucky to have Ellen Heck illustrate the book. She really poured her heart -- and talent -- into it. She used amazing techniques to overcome some of the challenges of a manuscript written in second person.

 

For example, the kids see some of the bridge building at the south end while they live at the north end. Ellen solved the problem by having them look through a telescope. There was nothing in the manuscript to help her figure that out, she came up with the solution herself.

 

Ellen also added an amazing detail. She tracks the progress of the bridge building from blueprint to finished orange bridge through a visual timeline that runs along the bottom of each page. Brilliant!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My next book, Imogen: the Life and Work of Imogen Cunningham (Viking Children's Books, August 2025)  is a personal story. Imogen was my grandmother, and I wanted to let more kids know about her and her life as a photographer in a time when women were not encouraged to have an independent life as an artist.

 

Her father was the one who encouraged her, and I knew many stories about him from my dad, who was his grandson. He was truly an amazing character, and so was she. The book is a tribute to fathers who support their daughters' dreams.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Elizabeth Partridge.