Daily visitors to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City see a working cathedral where worship, festivals, concerts, art exhibits, and lectures are held - in which homeless and otherwise helpless people are befriended. This unfinished cathedral has a hidden story, one about people. Ancona traveled to a fossil-rich Indiana limestone quarry mill to photograph 11-1/2 ton blocks of stone being cut to be transported across five states to the Cathedral. He found the chief masonry draftsman using a computer to produce templates. He talked to carvers in the stone-yard and on scaffolds. Ancona's images and interviews reveal the diverse cultural and national backgrounds of the individuals who take pride in making a cathedral during this century and the next. Color photos show the high tech work, hard labor and artistry involved in creating a classic structure in contemporary times. A marvelous companion to materials about the Middle Ages. (Ages 8-12)

For more than 100 years, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine has been under construction. Workers from all over the world have contributed their abilities & labor & time, decade after decade. And although the cathedral is still unfinished, services are held there, festivals are celebrated, & the helpless & homeless are fed, clothed, & befriended within its walls. This full-color book, for juvenile readers, follows the awesome process of building the stonework of the Cathedral -- from the quarrying of the limestone hundreds of miles away, to the cutting of the 11 ton stone blocks, to the creation of the magnificent carvings to adorn it.