Description
The Construction Jack line of characters and toys was conceived of by inventor and third-generation electrician Andrew Winslow in 1996. His motivation was a desire to promote the values of hard work, manual labor and the building trades. Looking back from 2018 we can see that his vision was prophetic. Since the launch of Construction Jack in 2002, two successive generations of children have grown up largely absent these values. Winslow, then living in Portland, Oregon, and working as a union electrician for the local mass transit district, literally sketched his idea out on the back of a napkin. Through relentless networking and the investment of every extra cent for several years, he secured a patent for his idea, followed soon thereafter by a small infusion of outside venture capital. In 2002 he took delivery of 30,000 units of Construction Jack action figures, including a carpenter, painter, plumber and electrician. It garnered immediate acclaim, winning a Parent's Choice Award for "Best Toy" in 2003, being featured in the New York Times, and was carried in more than 400 retail locations throughout the country, including Ace Hardware stores.
By 2004, 95% of those 30,000 action figures had been sold. As Winslow readied his order for a second batch for even wider retail distribution, he developed several new characters to join the Construction Jack line — including Construction Jill, Hispanic character Penny Nails, and African American character Inspector Irving. This book was developed at that time and was being considered for publication by numerous prestigious New York publishing houses. Despite this success, the project was shuttered. The Great Recession meant that a second infusion of venture capital never materialized. Winslow never gave up on his dream or the motivation for that dream: extolling the virtues of hard work and the building trades.
During that time and in the years after, he put pen to paper, writing a novel about growing up in a working class, Irish-Catholic Boston household in the 1970s. That book, called The Electrician (now available for purchase), serves the same purpose as Construction Jack, and was the cause, finally, for the release of this children's book.
"The plan is to use the proceeds from the sale of The Electrician and Construction Jack Saves the Day to finance the re-launch of the full line of Construction Jack toys, including new characters Construction Jill, Penny Nails, Inspector Irving, as well as Mechanic Mary," says Winslow.
"With all the disruptions in our economy and the rapid changes in career options as a result of technology, the message of Construction Jack is more important than ever," he says. Indeed, no matter how many jobs are replaced by technology, people will always need homes to live in, buildings to work in, and offices and shops to carry on with their daily lives. And it is the real-life heroes embodied in Construction Jack and Construction Jill that build these buildings and keep them safe and secure year after year.