Brick by Brick

By: Heidi Woodward Sheffield

Narrated by: Giordan Diaz

Length: 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award!

A striking debut celebrating the warm bond between a little boy and his dad as they work hard to achieve their dreams

Papi is a bricklayer, and he works hard every day to help build the city, brick by brick. His son, Luis, works hard too - in school, book by book. 

Papi climbs scaffolds, makes mortar, and shovels sand. Luis climbs on the playground and molds clay into tiny bricks to make buildings, just like Papi. Together, they dream big about their future as they work to make those dreams come true. 

And then one Saturday, Papi surprises Luis with something special he's built for their family, brick by brick. 

©2020 Heidi Sheffield (P)2020 Listening Library

Critic reviews

“Papi is a bricklayer, building a city, brick by brick, while his proud son Luis builds too, book by book. Juxtaposed in side-by-side pages, Luis shows how he can climb at recess to touch the sky, just as Papi climbs the scaffold. . . . Spanish words both in the text and cleverly inserted into the backgrounds convey the family's Latinx culture, as do Luis and his father's lunches of empanadas and horchata. Illustrations done in warm tones use photographs, digital painting, and collage to show the close relationship between father and son as they work and play together to build happiness. Adults and children alike will appreciate the exquisite details and clever mirroring in the story, and celebrate the characters' joyful work ethic and fulfilment of their dreams.”—Booklist, starred review 

“Young Luis cherishes and admires his strong papi, who is a bricklayer. . . . Mirrorlike images show both brown-skinned father and son with similar lunchboxes, both eating Mama’s special empanadas. . . . [Sheffield] excels with boisterously textured, mixed-media illustrations, many incorporating photographs, digital painting, and collage, capturing vibrant colors. Told in the first person, with minor Spanish interspersed and occasional sound effects printed in all-caps, the written text will engage the youngest readers. . . . Lovely and heartfelt.”—Kirkus Reviews 

“Luis, a Spanish-speaking boy, admires the work his father does and lists the ways the two are alike. . . . The writing is sprinkled with plenty of onomatopoeia and sensory words. . . . Crisp-edged collages by Sheffield (Are Your Stars Like My Stars?) are composed partly of photographed bricks—a note explains that even Papi and Luis are made up of areas of brick images. Sheffield underscores the way children model themselves on the important adults in their lives in this loving, familial portrait of a strong father whose labor is honored.”—Publishers Weekly