A Royal Ride
Catherine the Great's Great Invention
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Join Catherine the Great on a fun-filled ride as she schemes to invent the roller coaster in this inventive, STEM-based nonfiction picture book!
Empress Catherine the Great, Queen of Russia loved her country, especially the snowy winters. Giant ice slides meant daring drops and thrilling rides for all!
But every spring, warm weather melted the snow and the slides.
What could Catherine the Great do to ensure fun all year round?
With some ingenuity and some royal thinking, Catherine the Great would create her greatest invention!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cartoon scenes of a young Catherine the Great (1729 1796) animate the beginnings of the first wooden roller coaster. The Russian empress adores Saint Petersburg's winter ice slides ("she bolted, barreled, and breezed six hundred feet down," reads Fulton's spirited text) and longs to enjoy their thrill during the summer months. Sketching a design with "gilded beams and poles as high as a mountain," Catherine sets her builders to the task. They modify and construct her idea, erecting a wood tower (not gold, to her dismay) and carriage that delight the empress, and the first "Russian mountain" is born. In Fleming's art, Catherine pushes education for all and bosses builders about while wearing a crown and cape, accompanied by an orange tabby and small white dog. A brief author's note, roller coaster timeline, and bibliography conclude this whimsical introduction to roller coaster history. Ages 4 8.
