1893
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-471-17580-3
Page Count: 155
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
From Kroll (Lewis and Clark, 1994, etc.), a handsomely illustrated biography that introduces a fascinating historical figure and will make readers yearn for more information. The facts are covered, including Fulton’s stints as sign painter, air-gun inventor, and apprentice jeweler; Kroll states clearly which details cannot be pinned down, and the probable order of events and incidents. The text is informative and lively, although in places the transitions are abrupt, e.g., one of the only references to Fulton’s personal life—“Meanwhile, on January 7, 1808, Fulton had married Harriet Livingston. She bore him four children”—quickly reverts to details on the building of boats. Warm gold-toned paintings convey a sense of times past and complement the text. Especially appealing are the depictions of the steamships. A welcome volume. (chronology) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)
Pub Date: March 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1433-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
In this volume of the Dear America series, Gregory (Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie, 1997, etc.) describes the creation of the historic transcontinental railroad through the meeting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. Vital to western expansion, the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 authorized the competitive laying of track by the two companies, and travel was forever changed: a journey of six months by stagecoach, or five months by wagon train, took only six or seven days by railroad. Readers learn these facts and others painlessly, witnessing the construction of the railroad through the eyes of Libby West, a forthright 14-year-old whose father is a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News in the Utah Territory. He risks being tarred and feathered whenever he and other reporters write the unvarnished truth about the railroad’s progress. On the homefront, women are the keepers of hearth and home, facing the hardships of all those who followed their dreams to the frontier. Numerous facts are interwoven, archival drawings and photos are included, and history is brought to life through Libby’s candid narration. (b&w photos) (Fiction. 8-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-10991-X
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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