NJ author focuses on extraordinary effort by ordinary Americans to build a cherished icon Replay Video UP NEXT France's enormous gift to honor America's 100th birthday created a colossal problem when it was delivered in 1885: Lady Liberty arrived in 350 pieces and couldn't be assembled without an expensive pedestal. And nobody wanted to foot the bill. This is the quandary readers encounter at the opening of Chana Stiefel's new children's book, "Let Liberty Rise: How America's Schoolchildren Helped Save the Statue of Liberty," released March 2 by Scholastic Press. When Stiefel first heard the little-known tale about the pivotal role that ordinary Americans, including schoolkids, played in the fundraising campaign for one of the country's most celebrated icons, she was awed.