Details
Synopsis
After the death of her parents, sixteen-year-old Bee takes on the responsibility of raising herself and her eight siblings. Although she does people's laundry to make money, she realizes she must earn more money or the family won't be able to stay together. Bee takes a job on a railroad loading freight, and realizes that her dreams are right at her fingertips. With color illustrations., At the turn of the century, a young woman who works on the railroad accomplishes her yearning ambition to become an engineer when a male engineer is injured and can't drive his train.
| Size | | Height: | 11.8 in | | Width: | 9.0 in | | Thickness: | 0.5 in | | Weight: | 14.4 oz |
Industry Reviews
Moss (Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl; Amelia's Notebook) uses her flair for capturing girls' voices to tell a remarkable and exhilarating story. A turn-of-the-century photograph of an all-women work crew for a railroad inspired this tale of a teenager's first time driving a train, an experience that launches her career as an engineer. Newly orphaned in 1893, 16-year-old Bee takes a job loading freight on the railways to support her eight siblings. Moss evokes the love of trains that keeps Bee in the engineer's cab every spare moment, watching and asking questions, and her joy at driving for the first time, when an injured engineer and a trainful of impatient passengers pressure the station manager to give her a chance. On the final spread, Bee recalls that inaugural experience: "I felt so free and strong, galloping across whole states in my iron horse, blowing my whistle for all the sky to hear." For his first children's book, Payne uses mixed media in a crisp, realistic style. He so meticulously defines the action that the illustrations seem frozen in time, oddly tranquil: unexpected angles and tight close-ups create arresting compositions. This book will be welcomed by a wide audience: train lovers, frontier buffs, all girls and any adult who, like Bee, can "remember wanting something so much you can't think of anything else." Ages 5-9. (Mar.)
Dirda
Gr 2-4-An engineer for the Union Pacific at the turn of the century reminisces about the event that made the dream of driving trains become a reality. As a freight loader, Bee took every opportunity to sit in the cab and watch the engineers work, and was occasionally offered a chance to drive from one station to the next. One day on a run from San Francisco to Chicago, a group of bandits shot and injured the engineer at the controls. Bee volunteered to complete the run and the station manager agreed, marking that day as the start of a new career for Bee. This comfortably paced story has a familiar feel to it and a secret that will disclose itself to attentive readers: Bee is a woman. The use of nicknames throughout and an avoidance of gender pronouns draw the attention to the heart of the story-Bee's dream-rather than her sex. Accompanying the author's note at the end of the book is a black-and-white photograph of a group of female freight loaders that inspired this book. The mixed-media illustrations are realistic but softened with sepia tones, as if with age; and except for a couple of double-page spreads, full-page illustrations on the right face text on faux-stained parchment backgrounds. Visually and textually, this quiet story is a treasure.-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Dirda
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