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Hoyt, Megan

A Grand Idea: How William J. Wilgus Created Grand Central Terminal

48 pp. | HarperCollins/Quill Tree | January, 2024 | Trade ISBN 9780063064744 $19.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by David Szalay. Hoyt (The Greatest Song of All: How Isaac Stern United the World to Save Carnegie Hall, rev. 7/22) returns to New York City's past to trace the history of what was touted as the "biggest, grandest, most magnificent railroad station ever built" -- Grand Central Station. The book opens in 1902, when chief engineer Wilgus had the radical idea to replace the city's smoky, sooty, street-level coal-powered trains with cleaner electric trains and move them underground -- a prodigious undertaking. Readers then learn about the contest between rival architects to design the new depot; details about the new Grand Central Terminal when it was completed in 1913 and as it grew (it soon housed restaurants, a movie theater, a tennis court, a hotel, a library, a ski slope, and more); and then its decline years later when it was slated for demolition and saved by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and others, who fought to have the iconic building designated a New York City Landmark. Hoyt's lively text is chockful of information, presented in a child-friendly way (for instance, readers learn that Wilgus's plan required thirty thousand tons of riveted steel, the equivalent of three Eiffel Towers). Szalay's textured, detail-fueled digital illustrations ably convey time and place. Extensive back matter includes even more information, "Fascinating Facts About Grand Central Station," a timeline, and source notes.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

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