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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Great Wheel

The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson

I am so excited to reintroduce a book to the collection. Decatur Public Library no longer owned The Great Wheel, a 1950s Newbery Honor book. I had to order it from another library. I was surprised to receive a brand new edition. It had been republished as a part of Walker and Company’s Newbery Honor Roll! What a grand idea!

After I finished it yesterday, I couldn’t help but book talk it to my boss. After my gush, (I really wasn’t trying to sell it,) she ordered new ones for our collection! Sometimes, it really is word of mouth that reenergizes a book’s shelf life.
I’m definitely looking for boys, (and girls,) who love building, designing, inventing. Our architects and engineers in training. Our dreamers of the dream. And the laboring hands that make those dreams come true! It takes the team to make great things happen! The investors, planners, forgers, riggers, diggers – everyone!
The time? The late 1800s. The place? Chicago, Illinois. The event? The World’s Columbian Exposition. The machine? The first Ferris wheel! Our character? Cornelius Terrence Kilroy, “Conn”, an Irishman fresh off the boat and ready to make his fortune in America!
When Conn was twelve years old, his Aunt Honora read his fortune in his tea leaves. It said, “Your fortune lies to the west. Keep your face to the sunset and follow the evening star, and one day you’ll ride the greatest wheel in all the world.”
It wasn’t until Conn was almost eighteen that his family received a letter from Conn’s Uncle Michael in New York. Uncle Michael invited young Conn to join him in the business of building sewers and even provided the money for ship’s passage. Remembering his fortune, Conn unhesitatingly leaves his family for his future.
Conn works hard and earns not only his keep but also his Uncle’s pride and support. Uncle Michael intends to make a partner out of him. But Conn’s Uncle Patrick has another idea in mind. Uncle Patrick thinks Uncle Michael will citify Conn and make him wealthy and soft. Uncle Patrick offers Conn a man’s job building engineering marvels. When Conn shares his full fortune with Uncle Patrick, Uncle Patrick must spill the beans – a great wheel is to be built and Conn is offered a chance to join in.
Again, Conn sets off after his fortune without pause.
If you ever wanted to know how a giant Ferris wheel was built and operated from below the ground on up, here you go. And Lawson makes it interesting. Boys might be shocked to find that Conn’s fortune sees him settled with a lovely German girl making cheese in Wisconsin, but that’s what clinched the book for this librarian! You cannot fault one chapter out of 16!

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