78. Locomotive, by Brian FLoca

78. Locomotive, by Brian FLoca

 


Floca, B. (2013). Locomotive. NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 

This is a non-fiction book written primarily in free verse. It starts by giving historical background in its front cover pages about the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the 19th century. It explains that two companies, Central Pacific Railroad Company that started from Sacramento, California and the Union Pacific Railroad Company that built from Omaha, Nebraska, collaborated in its construction.  They selected Promontory Summit, Utah as the meeting place for the two rail roads. The purpose of it being built was for people to take less time to travel. Before this, traveling from coast to coast would take up to six months which was difficult and dangerous because travelers traveled by wagons over land or by ship. The story follows a family as they ride a transcontinental steam engine train in summer of 1869. The book details the workers, passengers, landscape, and effects of building and operating the first transcontinental railroad. The book also contains prose about the earlier and later history of locomotives. The books include a change in perspective from following the crew of the train to following a family.

They noted his use of techniques such as alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, and internal rhyme. This book can support lessons on any of these literary elements. This would also be a good book to use when teaching about Westward Expansion and the Transcontinental Railroad in social studies.  You could use it when teaching about making steam in science. I found a teaching guide on the author’s web site, that has a list of resources that can be used with the book.   

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