Picture book honors essential workers during pandemic

Keeping the City Going

Written and illustrated by Brian Floca

A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2021

“Keeping the City Going” is a story about the essential workers who kept New York City going during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic when people quarantined at home.

“We are here at home now,” the story begins, “watching the world through our windows, and wondering what will happen next.

“Outside, the city is strangely still. Store doors are locked and their windows are dark and our neighbors all stay hidden. The voice of the city is low, and the streets are almost empty.”

Floca’s muted illustrations in watercolor, ink, acrylic, and gouache, beautifully create the quiet city. His lyrical words work with the images to tell the story.

“There are still some people out on the streets,” Floca writes, “driving this and that, heading from here to there. They might be family, friends, or strangers. They’re there because we need them. They’re the people keeping the city going.”

Floca mentions food delivery people riding bicycles, truck delivery people, bus drivers, subway workers, and grocery store employees.

He also tells of the taxi drivers, sanitation workers, mail carriers, package delivery truck drivers, and those who keep the water, gas, and electricity flowing and the phones and internet working.

Finally, he remembers the fire fighters, police, paramedics, EMTs, doctors, nurses, technicians, aides, clerks and cleaners.

The story concludes with a description of how New Yorkers quarantined at home go to their windows every evening at seven o’clock. They hang out of their windows, clang pots together, and cheer for the essential workers.

“We hear the city say to us – and we say back to the city that we are still here, and we are here together,” he writes.  

“We hear the city say, and we say with the city – and we all say together --- thanks to the people still out on the streets, driving this and that, going from here to there, and taking care of the sick. Thanks to the people keeping our city going.”

This is a nice tribute to the essential workers. Children will enjoy looking at the pictures and remembering the early days of the pandemic. Parents can talk with them about how everyone depended on the workers who kept the city going.

About the Author and Illustrator

Brian Floca is the author and illustrator of “Locomotive,” winner of the Caldecott Medal and a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book; “Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11,” a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book and Sibert Honor Book; and “Lightship,” also a Sibert Honor Book. He has illustrated numerous other books, including Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan’s “Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring,” Laura Amy Schlitz’s “Princess Cora and the Crocodile,” and Avi Poppy Stories’ novels.  Brian lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Visit him at brianfloca.com.