The Trans-Continental Railroad

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6 The linking of East and West through the railway is the theme of Miller's well-researched and readable book, which offers a wealth of information on this important event. The book begins with engineer Theodore Judah's dream of a transcontinental railroad and concludes with the long-term effects of America's railroad expansion. Readers will learn of the problems encountered in the early stages of the railway's construction, of the competition between the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, of the back-breaking work on the part of thousands of Chinese and Irish immigrant laborers, and of the effect of the ``iron horse'' on the Plains Indians. It is to this latter point that Miller gives sympathetic emphasis. The book is similar in organization and content to Frank B. Latham's The Transcontinental Railroad, 186269 (Watts, 1973; o.p.), but is for slightly younger readers. The format makes it especially useful and appealing as a supplementary resource for social studies research. Well-chosen illustrations and photographs, a few of which are in color, appear on almost every page of the double-columned text. A good purchase for school and public libraries. Miriam B. Hansen, formerly at Eau Claire Public Schools, Wis.