The Database Of All The Reviews

Subway: The Story of Tunnels, Tubes, and Tracks
Larry Dane Brimner
Illustrated by Neil Waldman
Non-Fiction
Ages 9 to 12
Boyds Mills Press, 2004, 1-59078-176-7
 In the early 1800’s cities were noisy, dirty, and very crowded places. As more and more people came into the city center to work every day the congestion became a real problem. Horse-drawn vehicles simply could not keep up with the crowds of people who needed to get into and around the city. Clearly something needed to be done about this situation. Planners on both sides of the Atlantic realized that rapid transit was the answer but they could not figure out what form this was to take.
  Finally an English engineer, Marc Brunel, came up with the idea of moving people through tunnels underground. And in the 1840’s another engineer took some of Brunel’s ideas and suggested that they build an underground railway to relieve some of London’s overcrowding problems. Actual work on London’s first underground railway began in 1860 and though the process was dogged with problems, the end result was so popular that other cities decided that they would follow London’s example.
  Subways became even better when proper electric trains where invented and developed. Now the subway planners did not have to find ways to get rid of the soot and smoke that the trains produced. Today millions of people use subways in cities all over the world and for residents in Tokyo, London, Paris, New York and other large cities, the subway is essential and a part of their daily lives.
  This book serves as a wonderful tribute to the inventors, engineers and planners who figured out how to build the world’s first subways. The carefully researched text is written in a cheerful style, and interesting side bars provide excellent background information. The illustrations are very reminiscent of the era which they describe, executed in darker tones using a combination of media to great effect.

 

Blog| Contact Us| Search | About us

An Online Children’s Book Review Journal

Through The Looking Glass Children’s Book Review

Online book reviews for the child in your life featuring both new and popular children's book authors

Kids book reviews, including book reviews of chapter books, novels, picture books, and non-fiction from famous children’s literature authors. Your review site of books for children.

Action Alert

Reading is Fundamental (RIF) needs your help. The President's proposed fiscal year 2009 budget released in February eliminates the Inexpensive Book Distribution Program, which is the RIF Book Distribution Program. Unless Congress reinstates funding for this program, RIF will be unable to distribute 16 million books annually to the nation's youngest and most at-risk children. RIF serves 4.6 million children. Please click on the link below to visit the RIF Action Alert page so you can make your voice heard and support their efforts.