Keeping the City Going

In Keeping the City Going, Brian Floca, an American writer and illustrator of non-fiction children’s literature, pays tribute to the frontline workers in New York City who kept the city running during the first wave of COVID-19. This picture book, aimed at children aged 4-8, highlights essential work beyond healthcare, focusing on service workers who deliver food, drive taxis, and manage grocery stores. Through detailed illustrations of equipment like garbage trucks, Floca emphasizes the massive effort needed to sustain cities during lockdown. The book champions essential workers, conveying their importance to children and helping them understand the labor that made it possible for families to isolate safely at home, even as these workers were largely abandoned by the American political establishment by the end of the pandemic.