"LOCKS, CROCS, AND SKEETERS"

by Nancy Winslow Parker ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1996

Subtitled ""The Story of the Panama Canal,"" this is a lively panorama of canal history, from pig-farmer-turned-explorer, Balboa, who discovered the Isthmus of Panama, to ambitious American President Theodore Roosevelt who seized the Isthmus and ""left Congress . . . to debate me."" The decade-long American canal-building effort took engineering genius, an army of mosquito fighters, millions of dollars, and a devastating loss of lives to create ""the eighth wonder of the world."" In a witty account that makes full use of entertaining detail, Parker (Working Frog, 1992, etc.) blends mesmerizing profiles, amiable illustrations (including wryly illustrated cautionary verse by a poet who succumbed to ""malaria's poisonous breath""), plus maps and diagrams of everything from scorpions and mosquitos to the canal itself.

Pub Date: May 1, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Greenwillow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1996

Categories: CHILDREN'S