Kids in the third and fourth grades in Portland and Vancouver public schools have been studying the area’s bridges for over 50 years. Bridges are a great subject upon which to build a rich curriculum for education, one that can touch on math, engineering science, geography, history, and social studies, among other topics. Throughout the years, however, educators have never had a textbook available that was specific to the region and to the audience of young readers.
The Big & Awesome Bridges of Portland & Vancouver—A Book for Young Readers & Their Teachers is passionate local bridge historian Sharon Wood Wortman’s solution to this problem. Using engaging imagery and easily navigable text, Big & Awesome aims to become a fun and invaluable resource to enrich the lives of the area’s children. Working as part of a team, I developed a map for the book that illustrated the geographic relationships of the bridges. After realizing that this map worked well in poster format, I determined that we could produce it independently of the book, as a double-sided, kid-sized poster, to be used in promoting and fundraising for the project.
In addition to working on the book, I developed and managed a crowdfunding campaign that raised nearly $10,000 towards publishing costs. I directed, narrated, and co-edited the campaign pitch video, and wrote copy for the website.
To learn more about the book and contribute to the fundraising for its production, please visit:www.bigandawesomebridges.org
