Amazing Impossible Erie Canal (Aladdin Picture Books) [Paperback]

Cheryl Harness (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Aladdin Picture Books

IMPOSSIBLE!

When De Witt Clinton, a young politician, first dreams of building a canal to connect the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, folks don't believe such a thing can be done. But eight long years after the first shovelful of earth is dug, Clinton realizes his vision at last. The longest uninterrupted canal in history has been built, and it is now possible to travel by water from the American prairie all the way to Europe!

Join Cheryl Harness on a fascinating and fun-filled trip as she depicts the amazing construction and workings of the Erie Canal. From the groundbreaking ceremony on the Fourth of July in 1817 to a triumphant journey down America's first superhighway, it's a trip you definitely don't want to miss.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-6?Harness has done a wonderful job of making the history and construction of the Erie Canal come alive. Facts and descriptions are related in lively, accessible language, e.g.,"...then came the stake-setters, the soil-borers, the underbrush-grubbers, the tree-chopper-downers..." The narrative is matched with illustrations that cover each page. On one double-page spread, there are miniatures of the engineers who worked on the canal; a picture of how the locks work; a map of progress; a drawing of a swamp in which workers died of malaria; a stump-removal machine; the tow path; the low bridges; and a cross-section diagram showing the depth and width of the canal. All of the colorful illustrations are peppered with active people. Children will pore over these fascinating details.?Kate Hegarty Bouman, Susquehanna Valley Junior High School, Conklin, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-5. Focusing on the celebration that marked the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, Harness uses words, maps, and pictures to explain the history and commerce of the canal. The book discusses the need for the canal, the politics of its planning and building, the workings of the locks and canals, the pleasure and pride people took in the accomplishment of this engineering feat, and the reasons for its demise. Full of action and details of human drama, many of the colorful double-page spreads show scenes of jubilation, as town and country folk line the canal for the festive parade of boats headed from Lake Erie down the canal and the Hudson River to the Atlantic Ocean. The illustrations offer a series of intriguing views of nineteenth-century New York State, seen by daylight and by moonlight. An upbeat introduction. Carolyn Phelan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Original edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689825846
• ISBN-13: 978-0689825842
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.2 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cheryl Harness makes her home in Independence, Missouri, the "Queen City of the Trails," a couple of blocks away from the big white house where Harry and Bess Truman used to live. She lives with Mimi (a black and white Shih Tsu)), and Merrie Emma (a cross-eyed scaredy-cat). As an author, illustrator, public speaker, and presenter in many an elementary school, Cheryl is known for her engaging, entertaining approach to history, her detailed watercolors, and the way she plays her harmonica.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well done!, April 3, 2001

By 

SJK (Tinley Park, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amazing Impossible Erie Canal (Aladdin Picture Books) (Paperback)

This educational story tells about the construction of the Erie Canal. Colorful illustrations project the happiness felt by many once the waterway was completed. Along with these illustrations are diagrams and captions provided on most pages. Such graphic aids help the reader understand many different aspects of the canal. Readers ten years and older will appreciate the additional information as it explains how the canal operated. I would recommend this book for readers at the fourth grade level and higher. It is an informative story with exceptional illustrations. Readers will find the history of the canal engaging and the graphic aids intriguing.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings history alive with a mix of pictures & text, January 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal (Hardcover)

This is an excellent expansion of the "picture book" format for more mature readers; the colorful pictures show action scenes while text elaborates historical details. Additional embedded illustration shows map details of regional sections as the story unfolds. Fascinating information helps us understand why this feat was so important to the country's development at that time.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very little on the construction of the Erie Canal, mainly about the celebration afterwards, September 2, 2011

By 

HeatherHH - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amazing Impossible Erie Canal (Aladdin Picture Books) (Paperback)

This book was not at all what I expected. Over 2/3 of the book is about the inaugural voyage on the Erie Canal, chronicling the passage from town to town, how excited the people were about the canal, etc. There was feasting and fireworks at Lockport and banners at Macdeon and Halloween bonfires at Little Falls! This is the sort of information conveyed in the majority of the book, that and how many miles were traveled each day. There is very little educational or exciting in these pages. Then, there are 8 pages talking about why there was a need for the Erie Canal, about De Witt Clinton's efforts to get it built, and the discouragement during the time it took to build it. Finally, there is *nothing* in the main text about the building of the canal or how it worked.

I had to look at tiny illustrations off to the side to learn about how locks work, but nothing about why they are necessary (the difference in height). A few pages later, another illustration has a brief blurb about the height difference over the canal, but nothing connecting it to the locks. There should have been a whole 2-page spread on the locks and the need for them and how they worked, and instead it's relegated to a tiny bit of text overlaying a 1/3 page illustration. There are other tiny illustrations explaining some of the things about how the canal was built, but they are difficult to view and it's just a little bit thrown on as a side note. In small print buried in the illustrations, I read "Malaria killed hundreds of diggers in the Montezuma Marshes." or "Thousands of trees had to be gotten out of the way of the canal." This is the information the book should have focused on, not of the festivities on the inaugural voyage!

I'm very disappointed in the book. It has gorgeous illustrations, but that's about all that we found interesting. I was expecting to learn about how the canal was built and how it worked. What little there is finds itself buried in the illustrations, often in difficult to read print. My 10-year-old who loves nonfiction, especially about history or how things work, didn't enjoy the book. Neither of my daughters (8 & 6), who usually like being read to, enjoyed it either. It's a shame; it could have been a really good book. The author spends most of the book trying to build a feeling of excitement with all of these celebrations, but we never really get a good sense of what we should be excited for.