©2007 Terry Widener
Client: Atheneum Books
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size:Various Sizes
Use:Children Book
Title: "Steel Town"
Publication date:May 6,  2008

REVIEWS
 

..."Meantime, those furthest removed from the age of American Big Steel -- say, 4- to 8-year-olds -- could receive a worse introduction than Steel Town,
by Pittsburgh author Jonah Winter. With grand and gorgeous illustrations by Terry Widener, this picture book is set in a fictional valley burg, hard by
"the Midnight Mountains," cut through by "Pitch-Black River." But it's admittedly inspired by the iconic Pittsburgh of the 1930s (when many of
Wymard's stories are likewise set). This "Steel Town" is painted in shades of olive, gray and rust, with raindrops that perpetually plummet like tracer
bullets from the never-day-lit sky.
Smiles are scarce in Steel Town; the prevailing impression left by Widener's artwork is that of wiry, dauntless men in vintage headwear attempting
to appease some molten pagan god. Winter notes the danger: "Outside the furnace, it's so hot, you'd die if you took the [protective] suit off."
There's also a sort of claustrophobia, with just one glimpse outside Steel Town: a steel-skeletoned skyscraper against a jarringly sunny sky.
Of course, a book aimed at the Dora the Explorer set is necessarily sanitized -- there are no giant mill rats, such as those in the stories Wymard collects.
Though Winter describes workers as "tired and dirty," Widener's illustrations don't suggest grime so much as pervasive gloom.
And after work, though some men play pool, this Steel Town is missing its taverns -- though the book's panorama does encompass images of home
life from backyard fences and vegetable gardens to restful porches and potfuls of pierogies.
Winter, a native Texan whose other children's books include Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates, is clearly captivated by Pittsburgh's
industrial past. His and Widener's vision suggests a world that today can feel nearly as distant as colonial America -- or the North Pole of Chris Van
Allsburg's The Polar Express. Every day, as Wymard's Talking Steel implicitly emphasizes, that's a suggestion that's closer to reality."
©2008 Bill O'Driscoll
THE PITTSBURG CITY PAPER

"My next project, coming out this May, is one that I hope will go over well here in Pittsburgh: "Steel Town." It's set in an unnamed steel town
during the 1930s and is a chronicle of one day in the life of such a town. Terry Widener's gorgeous illustrations, many of them depicting scenes
inside the steel mill, are luscious, dark and evocative. I am incredibly excited about this book, not just because it's more or less inspired by my
current home town, but because I think it's the first of its kind: a picture book solely celebrating workers"
Jonah Winter' interview by Monessa Tinsley, POST GAZETTE NOW, Arts & Entertainment
©2008 Monessa Tinsley
THE PITTSBURG POST GAZETTE

"Stunning poetry and fabulous paintings bring the bygone realities of a steel town to clanking, vivid life in this gorgeous picture book.
Winter evokes the noise and drama and hard labor involved, writing of the “mighty fiery Blast Furnace” where iron is made (“you have
to wear a big, heavy, fireproof suit from head to toe”), the pig iron which “runs in a flaming river down through a gutter on the floor,”
elevating the proceedings with a hint of mystery (the steel is “taken away to the other world beyond the Midnight Mountains”). Widener’s
detailed paintings evoke the gritty, austere grandeur of the industrial process, and his nighttime pictures of Steel Town urbanscapes have
an almost Edward Hopper-esque quality".
©2008 Jean Westmoore
THE BUFFALO NEWS

"From the time children open the cover, everything about this oversize book speaks to the grand scale of steel and iron production circa 1935.
Readers are drawn immediately into the heat and the grime of a steel town, from the tall trim size to the steely endpapers.
The acrylic artwork creates an atmosphere of gloom with fiery furnaces and gray skies. Against this backdrop is the rhythmic, repetitious language
detailing a day in the life of Steel Town. Starting with coal and ending with a "flaming river" of molten iron, the production of iron is lyrically described.
The uses and purposes of iron round out the picture of steel while the workers go home and get ready for another day in the mills. Both informative
and visually stunning, this beautifully written and powerfully illustrated picture book will make a perfect addition to any collection".
©2008 Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

"Evocative illustrations pulse with energy and poetic prose describes the nation's industrial past in loving detail.
Although it may resemble other cities, "Steel Town" will be instantly recognized as Pittsburgh, Pa., though this by no means limits its appeal.
From the mills belching smoke to the Hot Metal Bridge across which the molten iron travels, from the ornate churches to the humble homes of
the workers, Winter captures the essence of the city. Recalling the WPA muralists, Widener's stylized acrylics emphasize hulking machinery,
bleak landscapes and gloomy darkness while capturing the look of Depression-era fashions and decor. Touches of light-the reflected gleam of
the furnace, the flowing gold of the hot metal-appear in almost every illustration, providing a welcome contrast. This amalgam of history,
industry and imagination proudly stands as both a beautiful and intriguing glimpse into a long-gone past and a paean to the hard work
required to create the "big beams used to make buildings...big sheets used to make cars..." (Picture book. 5-9)
KIRKUS REVIEWS

...This gritty yet poetic world is brought to life through Jonah Winter's lyrical, rhythmic text and Terry Widener's luscious, nocturnal illustrations,
whose massive figures glow with the few lights that shine through this darkness. This is a portrait of an imaginary town derived from the very
real American steel towns of the 1930s, when the sky was often black as night all day and the cavernous mills belched out fire and smoke.
Here is a journey to a town that time has not forgotten, just misplaced: Steel Town".
©2008 EMBRACING THE CHILD

..."In a palette of sulfuric oranges and grays, Widener's acrylic paintings resemble WPA murals, and they evoke the same, fitting nobility.
Though the contemplative treatment of a somewhat archaic subject may limit the book's appeal, those who do discover it will find themselves
enlightened, and moved."
©2008 Tom Barthelmess, BOOK LIST ONLINE

"The front jacket , a literal deus ex machina  depicting a man, arms raised, defying a giant vat of pig iron spilling out its molten contents,
sets the epic tone, Widener's strong acrylics of man and machine, reminiscent of the painting os Thomas Hart Benton, meld with Winter's
fluid prose as a day in the life of a steel millcreates a microcosm of industrialization in America."
©2008 HORN BOOK MAGAZINE July/August 2008