Crossing on Time
Steam Engines, Fast Ships, and a Journey to the New World
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
David Macaulay, co-creator of the international bestseller The Way Things Work, brings his signature curiosity and detailing to the story of the steamship in this meticulously researched and stunningly illustrated book.
Prior to the 1800s, ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean relied on the wind in their sails to make their journeys. But invention of steam power ushered in a new era of transportation that would change ocean travel forever: the steamship.
Award-winning author-illustrator David Macaulay guides readers through the fascinating history that culminated in the building of the most advanced—and last—of these steamships: the SS United States. This book artfully explores the design and construction of the ship and the life of its designer and engineer, William Francis Gibbs.
Framed around the author's own experience steaming across the Atlantic on the very same SS United States, Crossing on Time is a tour de force of the art of explanation and a touching and surprising childhood story.
A 2020 NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommended Book
2020 Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year List
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
More than 30 years after the publication of The Way Things Work, Macaulay continues to amaze with his architect-trained eye for detail and ability to make the complex understandable. His latest demystifies steam power and its use in ships through the mid-20th century. Bookending the steamship chronicle is the story of the author's boyhood immigration from Great Britain to the U.S. in 1957 aboard the fastest transatlantic passenger steamship at the time, the SS United States. After delving into the mechanics of steam power, the narrative introduces naval architect William Francis Gibbs and details construction of Gibbs's dream ship the same one that carried the author to his new home. The final of four chapters recollects his family's ocean crossing. Macaulay's trademark diagrammatic illustrations, with varied perspectives, cross-sections, explanatory captions, and a dose of subtle humor, offer a multilayered reading experience. Particularly impressive is a massive gatefold that offers a stunning bow-to-stern cutaway of the SS United States. A timeline, selected reading list, and archival photos accompany an afterword that entreats that "we must look back ... to see where we've been and to be reminded of our accomplishments," as it discusses a conservancy's efforts to preserve the historic vessel. Ages 10 14.
