Common Sense Note
Brown's pleasant but unexceptional watercolors complement the story of a woman hitting the open trail, finding her own place in history, in this enjoyable true tale.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Mary Dixon Weidler
Can a drive in a vehicle that tops out at 42 miles per hour be considered an adventure in this hurry-up society? "Yes!" a group of young children exclaimed after hearing the story of Alice Ramsey. Author Don Brown deftly details the hardships that Alice and her companions went through on her drive into history. "I would have given up by that point!" one seven-year-old exclaimed while viewing a picture of Alice and J. D., covered with mud after pushing the car out of a hole. "Give up? Never!" responded a classmate, showing that new-millennium kids can appreciate the strength and determination of an old-fashioned heroine.
Brown's watercolors--some full page, others dotted around the text--help the story move more quickly than Alice's Maxwell touring car did. Particularly clever are the dark pages with white text explaining how Alice had to drive at night through the hot desert. The story also provides a mini-geography lesson, as the car chugs through farmland, cities, flatlands, and mountains. "Yay! She did it!" a student cheered aloud as Alice steered into San Francisco. "What other women had adventures like that?" asked another, opening up a new discussion--and another book.
The author tells another little-known heroine's adventure in Ruth Law Thrills a Nation. Other historical heroines take a trip in Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride.
Plot Summary:
Talk about conquering the open road! Alice Ramsey did that--and then some--on her fifty-nine-day trek across the country in 1909. This colorfully illustrated biography lets readers watch Alice's journey--and experience every pitfall and mud hole on that highway into history.
In 1909, Alice Ramsey drove out of New York City and onto the pages of history when she fulfilled her goal of being the first woman to drive across America. But the trip in that old Maxwell touring car wasn't an easy one. Despite the bumpy wagon trails, hailstorms, floods and the stops to allow pigs to cross, Alice saw the trip as an adventure, and fell in love with her country as viewed from a car with a top speed of forty-two miles an hour.
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