The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad (Graphic History series) (Grapic Library Graphic History) - Softcover

Nathan Olson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 073689652X ISBN 13: 9780736896528

Publisher: Capstone Press, 2007

Synopsis

Tells the story of how the Transcontinental Railroad was built during the 1800's. Written in graphic-novel format.

About this title

About the Author:

Nathan Olson is a Capstone Author

Review:

A man named Judah had a dream of building a railroad reaching from the West coast to the East coast. He tackled many obstacles and when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 into law, he realized that his dream was going to come true. Unfortunately, Judah died before the railroad became a reality. This book is written in graphic format that is a favorite of mine. The graphic format is perfect for students who are reluctant readers and never seem to finish a book on their own. Young adults who want to read anything they can get their hands on will also enjoy the graphics and fast paced text. The full-color graphics make an enormous impact on the story. The author includes a box on most pages with narration giving extra information to the reader to help with comprehension. Vocabulary has been well-selected. This book is an excellent resource that could be used for writing a summary, a book report, or as a source for research. At the end of the book the author includes two pages with more information about the Transcontinental Railroad. I honestly did not know that Chinese laborers had to pull three locomotives and forty train cars for fifteen miles during a blizzard. The author includes a Glossary with a pronunciation guide and a list of other books and web sites that might be of interest to the reader. I highly recommend this book that is part of the Graphic Library series. --Childrens Literature Comprehensive Database, January 2007

In the mid 1800 s an engineer called Theodore Judah decided that it was time for someone to build a railroad connecting California with the eastern United States. Unfortunately, he could not get the government in Washington D.C. to agree on a railroad bill and therefore he began to try to find private investors to pay for the project. He succeeded in finding four rich and powerful businessmen to launch the Central Pacific Railroad and finally in 1862, he was present when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act. Unfortunately, Judah died soon after this event, but the work on the railroad began and despite many setbacks, the railroad crept its way through the mountains and across the country. Meanwhile, while the Central Pacific worked its way west, a new company, the Union Pacific, was formed to build a railroad that worked its way east. Both companies were rife with highly unethical business practices and the men who were in charge made enormous amounts of money at the expense of the government, at the expense of other investors, and at the expense of the men who worked on the railroad itself. It was an ugly business, but in the end the railroad was completed and the benefit to the country as a whole was enormous. This is an excellent account of how the transcontinental railroad came to be built and how political, corrupt, and complicated the process was. The author takes great pains to make sure that his readers know that the laborers who built the railroad did so working under dreadful and very dangerous conditions. Presented in a graphic novel format, this is one of the many first-rate non fiction titles in the Capstone Press Graphic Library series. --Through the Looking Glass Childrens Book Review, , May 2007

About this edition

• Publisher: Capstone Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 073689652X
• ISBN 13: 9780736896528
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Barnett III, Charles