Just Fine the Way They Are!

Reading level: Ages 9-12

Hardcover: 32 pages

Publisher: Boyds Mills Press (March 1, 2011)

ISBN-10: 1590787102

ISBN-13: 978-1590787106

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Change. Who needs it? We do! Mr. John Slack, the keeper of a tavern beside a rutted dirt road in the early 1800s, thought things were just fine the way they were. So did Lucius Stockton who ran the National Road Stage Company in the mid 1800s. So too, did the owners of the railroads when the first model T appeared in 1908. Yet with each new innovation, Americans were able to move around the country more quickly, efficiently, and comfortably. Connie Woolbridge offers an informative, yet light-hearted look at how the dirt roads of the early 1800s evolved into the present-day U.S. highway system. Richard Walz's gorgeous paintings capture both the broad sweep and the individual impact of change and progress.

This is more than a story about transportation. Just Fine The Way They Are: From Dirt Roads to Rail Roads to Interstates is also a story about change and resistance, progress and protest, innovation and the American entrepreneurial spirit. ~ Author

Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge and artist Richard Walz worked closely with experts and firsthand accounts to tell a "just fine and accurate" illustrated story of how dirt roads of the 1800s turned into the U.S. highway system of today. Just Fine The Way They Are is the fifth picture book by Wooldridge who also earned critical acclaim for her young adult biography of Edith Wharton, The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton (Clarion 2010).

A special plus for educators and home school instructors are three sets of lesson plans and teacher resources Wooldridge developed with two elementary school teachers. These are available to download from her website at no cost.

Take a humorous run through 200 years of U.S. History with this beautifully illustrated children's read!

Is old fashioned completely forgotten? I think not. However, there is always a resistance to change. Take a journey with this fascinating story of the evolution of the nation's transportation system and find out with each new innovation, what it brought to the U.S. as a whole.

In the back of the book there is a detailed timeline of events along with websites to explore on The National Road and places to visit. I highly recommend this captivating story!

About the Author..

Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge's vivid imagination and spirited storytelling are fueled by her love of travel, adventure, and the unconventional way she embraces all life has to offer. She's lived in seven states, Washington, D.C., Athens, Greece and Seoul; was a Latin major, a flight attendant for a major airline, raised four children who are five years apart in age, and worked at a job she'd dreamed of having as a little girl - a librarian in an elementary school. While attending the University of Chicago graduate school, where she received a double Masters degree in library science and education, she was recommended by Zena Sutherland, children's literature professor and editor of The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books, to serve first on the American Library Association's Newbery-Caldecott Committee and then on the Notable Books Committee.

In addition to her five non-fiction picture books for children and a young adult biography The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton (Clarion Books, August 2010), she's written numerous articles and stories for Highlights for Children and Cricket. Her first book, Wicked Jack (Holiday House 1995) won the Irma S. and James H. Black Book Award and North Carolina Children's Book Award, and The Legend of Strap Buckner (Holiday House 2001) earned the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America.

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Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Bostick Communications in order to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed above are my own.

Logo/Images Courtesy of conniewooldridge.com, Bostick Communications