Monica Halpern

Like other books in National Geographic's "Crossroads America" series; "Railroad Fever" does an excellent job describing an event that changed our country. From the beginning of the book, when author Monica Halpern describes how building railroads fit into our country's industrialization schemes, to the end, when she tells about what a trip on the railroad would be like for a passenger, and all of the interesting details of laborers' lives in-between, the book is riveting. It appears that Halpern geared her book towards the upper elementary grade or middle school reader (there is a glossary and sentences are not too lengthy), but, besides just giving the reader "the facts", she deals with very adult concepts. For example, she describes how building the transcontinental railroad forever changed the landscape of the United States (by laying thousands of miles of tracks and dynamiting through the Sierras), how Indian tribes lost their battles to hold on to their lands, how thousands of new immigrants brought changes to the west, and how even time was changed (with the invention of the "standard time" railroads needed.). The book includes "Voices of America" sidebars with quotes from famous Americans such as General Sherman and Leland Stanford. Not all students will realize who the speakers are. There are great historical photographs throughout the book.… (more)