Grade 2-4?A look at the old Lincoln Highway, a pre-Interstate road that reaches across the U.S. from New York City to San Francisco where today I-80 roughly follows its course. The information is presented in story format, as students at an elementary school in Nebraska learn about the history and current status of the thoroughfare. A road rally, featuring antique cars belonging to members of the Lincoln Highway Association, stops at the school and the drivers answer questions about their cars and their journeys along the route. This rather weak story line and overall format will not hold the interest of readers who do not have a geographical connection to the Lincoln Highway. The main text is interspersed with tiny black-and-white line drawings. Unfortunately, the more interesting photographs, some in color, are placed near the end of the book, along with a map, a selection of Burma-Shave jingles that appeared as advertisements along the roadside, and a list of towns along the way.?Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"Here is the story of this great old highway -- the idea, the first improvements, the old cars, the travelers, and the work today to preserve what little is left -- all mapped out for America's young people. We cannot preserve something until we come to love it; we cannot love something until we learn what it is. LINK ACROSS AMERICA will introduce a whole new generation to this road that helped teach their great-grandparents how to travel. The young are the ones who must learn to preserve it." --
Drake Hokanson, author of The Lincoln Highway, Main Street Across AmericaGrade level - 5-8 Social Studies Theme - Science, technology, society Typical Course Use - History, geography, economics, civics, government --
Museum Store Catalog - Educator Resource for Teaching ...Link Across America: A Story Of The Historic Lincoln Highway brings to life the historical saga of America's developing transportation system early in the 20th century. It gives historical perspective to a great old highway -- the conception, the financing, the first improvements, the old cars, the travelers, and it speaks of the work today to preserve what remains of the historical original roadway. Link Across America presents young readers ages 8 to 13, the historical information and photographs enabling them to appreciate a part of American transportation and cultural history. --
Midwest Book ReviewSynopsis - Illustrated with photographs/drawings, an educational/entertaining book: our nation's first transcontinental highway and its effects on our daily lives. --
Museum Store Catalog - Educator Resource for Teaching ...Written in a brisk, captivating style that older children will enjoy, LINK ACROSS AMERICA tells the history of the Lincoln Highway, the nation's first transcontinental highway. The book recounts the origins of the highway as a series of "seedling miles." Back before federal funding for highways, developers found local support to fund the construction of each mile of highway "seedling" miles for the road they imagined growing from coast to coast. ...
The book is lavishly illustrated with expertly rendered line drawings and photographs -- many in color. The author . . . has done an excellent job of enlivening history. ... --Nebraska Life Magazine
Link Across America is a different kind of history book. This narrative starts at Seedling Mile School with a teacher and her excited students awaiting a visit from road rally participants. The students learn that there will be photographers and reporters attending who will cover the event for the newspaper. Why? Because the school is located near and named for one of the "seedling miles" of the historic Lincoln Highway. Antique cars arrive, and their drivers talk to the children, answering questions and sharing experiences. Mr. Boomer, a member of the Lincoln Highway Association, recounts the history of transportation in general, the importance of President Lincoln, and the highway's history in particular. Describing how the highway was constructed covered a broad range of topics, including how they figured out how wide to make the road, what materials were used and how they were purchased, the actual process and the role of horse-powered equipment, and how concrete was made. Other interesting trivia included Burma-Shave signs and the still-standing mile markers, brick road sections, and original bridges. The back of the hard-covered book includes more information on the Burma-Shave jingles; lots of photographs, both modern-day and from the days of the original construction in the early 1900s; a U.S. map detailing the original route of the highway; a listing of the cities, towns, and other points of interest along the route; and contact information for the Lincoln Highway Association. This book, aimed at elementary students, ties in a lot of different subjects in a convenient story form, making it a good jumping-off point for class discussions, assignments and projects. Besides history, there are tie-ins to science, technology, geography, economics, civics, and government. It can be read aloud (by teacher or pupil) or enjoyed by the student alone. The way it is divided up into sections would make reading homework easy to assign. Pros: The well-illustrated story form of the book will keep students of all ages interested. It is not a dry textbook, but rather it invites the children to become part of the story, almost part of the class! The sections are short, which makes them easily digestible and memorable. The additional information in the back makes it a more substantial resource for a greater range of ages, allowing for a continued discussion and/or projects to make the material really come alive. Cons: Link Across America is definitely aimed at elementary students. While that is not a criticism, it's good to know the limits and usefulness of this resource. I was excited to receive and then read Link Across America. It's the kind of thing that keeps history fun and relevant. I am sure it will be read many times in our home--as part of "formal" school and just for pleasure. --The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November 2010
