Setting the Stage for Fluency
8 total works
In 1856, 15-year-old Bella Lee Dunkinson began hanging around the local railroad in western Tennessee. Engineer John Hardiman took a liking to the spirited girl and gave her a boy's responsibilities helping with the engine. One stormy night, the engine was slipping dangerously on wet rails. While John was putting sand on the tracks, Bella found herself alone in the cab driving the train up a steep and dangerous mountainside. After her heroic and triumphant climb to the mountaintop, she was hailed by the miners who met her there as the "Belle of the Mines and Mountains."
In 1807, folks living along the Hudson River saw a strange fire-breathing monster churning the waters. The sight of Robert Fulton's Clermont created havoc on the shore and river. One of the on-lookers, a young Brenton Dixon, got a job aboard the steamboat and assisted Fulton and his crew. Brenton continued working on steamboats throughout their great pre-Civil War heyday.
A dramatization of two escaped slaves who share their brave story along the path to freedom called the Underground Railroad. Includes special book features for further study and a special section for teachers and librarians.