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Descripción editorial
Can the railroad that is uniting America also bridge the gap between two boys from different backgrounds?
Shortly after the Civil War, Malachy laces on his father’s boots and travels to the American West to work on the transcontinental railroad that will unite the country. In addition to the challenge of the physically grueling work, Malachy also has to adjust to working with Chinese men and boys, whom he views with suspicion and contempt. Despite everything, Malachy gets by with his love for his fierce new dog, Brina, and Blind Thomas, the most hardworking and loyal railroad horse around.
But after a Chinese boy is blamed for stealing a bag of coins, Malachy begins to reconsider his prejudices—because Malachy is the real thief, and his conscience is uneasy. He begins to notice the many ways in which the Chinese workers are mistreated. And when real danger threatens, Malachy needs to find the courage to step up and do what’s right.
Diane Lee Wilson’s atmospheric writing vividly depicts the western landscape of America in the 1860s and draws you right in alongside Malachy—and his beloved horse and dog—as he navigates a bumpy moral terrain and discovers a friendship he never knew was possible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1866, 13-year-old Malachy Gormley can't wait to travel west to Cisco, Calif., to join the Central Pacific Railroad Company in its race against the Union Pacific to complete the transcontinental railroad. When his father didn't return from the Civil War, Malachy became the sole provider for his mother and siblings in New York ("I was on my own. It was up to me and me alone to regain my feet and punch the world back"). Malachy works alongside mistreated, underpaid "Chinamen," observing their unfamiliar culture and developing an uneasy friendship with Chun Kwok Keung, a Chinese teenager who Malachy nicknames "Ducks." With an adopted bulldog and a blind but loyal horse, Malachy battles horrendous weather, miserly bosses, daily dangers, loneliness, and guilt about his family's struggles back home. Wilson's (Raven Speak) coming-of-age story plunges readers into the heart of Malachy's character and circumstances (of Irish heritage, Malachy, like the Chinese workers, is no stranger to prejudice). Readers will be drawn in by Wilson's eloquent and expressive writing as it details Malachy's emotional and physical struggles toward adulthood. Ages 10 14.
