The author of the award winning The Broken Blade tells the story of a fifteen-year-old who travels to Nebraska to work on the Transcontinental Railroad with his father. After beginning as a water boy and a butcher’s helper, Sean eventually joins the “iron men” who are laying the tracks across the plains and into the mountains. Sean witnesses the rough and rowdy towns that are springing up as the railroad pushes west, and he also sees bitter conflicts arise between the railroad, the Plains Indians, and the Irish and Chinese rail workers.
Jefferson Cup Series of Note Award