The Daring Nellie Bly
America's Star Reporter
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
From the award-winning picture book biographer of Woody Guthrie comes the inspirational story of Nellie Bly. Born in 1864, during a time in which options were extremely limited for women, Nellie defied all expectations and became a famous newspaper correspondent. Her daring exploits included committing herself to an infamous insane asylum in New York City to expose the terrible conditions there and becoming the first American war correspondent of either sex to report on the front lines of Austria during World War I. In 1889, Nellie completed her most publicized stunt, her world-famous trip around the world in just 72 days, beating the record of Jules Vernes’ fictional hero in Around the World in 80 Days.
With an informative text and pen-and-ink illustrations reminiscent of the graphic style of the late 1800s, The Daring Nellie Bly captures the independent spirit of America’s first star reporter, Nellie Bly.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Christensen (Woody Guthrie) crafts an intriguing introduction to a larger-than-life figure in this attractive picture book biography. Born in 1864, Elizabeth Cochran (better known by her pen name, Nellie Bly) faced dim career prospects. Bly fell into journalism almost by accident at age 20, when her spirited letter to a local newspaper caught the editor's eye. In lucid prose, Christensen traces Bly's career as an investigative journalist, groundbreaking woman war correspondent (at 50, during WWI) and "stunt reporter" who once got herself committed to a women's insane asylum in order to expose its abysmal conditions. However, younger readers may lack the historical context to appreciate the nature of Bly's crusades. The author reserves the core of the book for Bly's most famous stunt: her successful attempt, in 1889, to break the fictional travel record of Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days (Bly did it in 72 days). Using pen and ink washed with muted color, Christensen creates an appropriately Victorian mood, and her busy cross-hatching echoes the style employed by newspaper artists of the day. She intersperses full-spread vistas with smaller framed scenes, while Bly's plucky world tour unfolds through a series of maps overlaid with drawn tickets, postcards, coins and the like. Although Bly the individual remains elusive here, readers will come away with an appreciation of her many feats. Ages 6-12.
