Thank You Very Much, Captain Ericsson - Hardcover

Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge; Andrew Glass

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823416267 ISBN 13: 9780823416264

Publisher: Holiday House, 2004

Synopsis

The engineer Captain John Ericsson was ahead of his time when it came to such ideas as a locomotive that could travel at 30 miles an hour and a high-pressure fire hose, but in America he found a more receptive climate for his inventions.

About this title

About the Author

Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge is a descendant of the brother of the inventive Captain Ericsson. It wasn't until she was in her 30's that Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge knew for sure that she was a writer. Before that, she tried her hand at a lot of different things. She spent a college year studying Greek culture and archeology in Athens. She worked as a flight attendant for American Airlines. She taught first grade at an English-speaking school in Seoul, Korea. She received a masters degree in education and library science from the University of Chicago. And she worked as a school librarian. Nothing was as exciting as finally sitting down to write and seeing her stories begin to appear in the pages of Highlights for Children and Cricket. Her first picture book, Wicked Jack, rolled off the press in 1995. It received starred reviews in School Library Journal, the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and Kirkus Reviews and was awarded the Irma S. and James H, Black Award and the North Carolina Junior Book Award. Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge lives in Richmond, Indiana with her husband, an orthopedic surgeon. They have four grown children.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-5–The creators of The Legend of Strap Buckner (Holiday House, 2001) once again present a lively, larger-than-life figure. Born in Sweden in 1803, Ericsson constantly challenged staid thinkers with his avant-garde inventions. When his steam locomotive and screw propeller were rejected in England (The British decided John Ericsson had a screw loose), he moved to the U.S. There he built the Monitor, the ship that helped the North stop the South's ironclad Merrimac from breaking the blockade during the Civil War. That accomplishment assured his fame. The text is humorous and light, not mentioning that the explosion of a gun on a warship that Ericsson designed resulted in two deaths. Glass's hilarious cartoon spreads depict pot-bellied officials, with clown-size shoes and exaggerated features who wring their hands and say, No. We'll not be needing your..., thank you very much, Captain Ericsson, each time he presents one of his newfangled machines. The captain himself moves from dejection to rolling his eyes at readers to vindication in a final spread in which he is presented center stage, arms folded across his chest, a satisfied smile on his face. A brief biography is appended. The book will introduce young readers to a man who had a huge impact on American history and will make an interesting sidelight to Civil War studies.–Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT
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About this edition

• Publisher: Holiday House
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0823416267
• ISBN 13: 9780823416264
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32