11/30/2022 0 Comments Colossus of roads![]() ![]() Not only does Uss depict a family struggling, she also shows how they make the best of a tough situation. "In The Colossus of Roads, Christina Uss (The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle) masterfully demonstrates the complications of living with a chronic illness, including missed opportunities, financial stressors and limited medical care. "Readers with underappreciated talents of their own will be heartened by Uss' (The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, 2018) ultimately unabashedly feel-good sophomore tale." Booklist, Starred Review "In this heartwarming, fast-paced story, Uss seamlessly weaves STEAM threads along with a dose of wit and humor to help readers focus on the importance of friendship, family, and second chances." School Library Journal, Starred Review He's one of the seven wonders of Los Angeles. If he can successfully move the 330,000 slow-moving cars standing in the way of his family's future, maybe everyone will see that he's not Carsick Rick. ![]() It's going to be tough, but Rick won't give up. Together they'll take on the stream of stalled cars-and a secret conspiracy or two, too. COLOSSUS OF ROADS DRIVERBut he'll need help from his unicorn-loving Girl Scout neighbor, a famous street artist, and the best driver in L.A. Absolutely certain that he could fix the constant, endless traffic snarls, Rick hatches a plan. Unfortunately, no one wants to listen to a kid. His family's catering service, Smotch, is teetering on the verge of ruin after a rash of late deliveries and missed appointments. And Rick's stomach isn't the only one dealing with terrible traffic. It never meant to earn its owner the nickname Carsick Rick or make him change schools for fifth grade. It's got opinions on tasty foods, not-so-tasty foods, and driving in traffic-jammed Los Angeles makes it roil, boil, gurgle, and howl. Those reservations aside, Man of Iron is a competent, interesting book about an engineer whose star, quickly eclipsed by the younger Brunel, deserves to shine a little brighter.From the author of the acclaimed The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle comes a tale of traffic jams, secret plans, and one eleven-year-old boy's determination to save his family's livelihood. Another problem is his style, which sometimes lapses into that of the worst sort of popular television history documentary, with breathless interjections at the end of each section (“He was on the march and he knew it”) and for a work of non-fiction, there is a little too much exercise of the authorial imagination (“Weather-beaten and tanned, Telford looked to be indestructible”). In that regard, Glover gives it too much space, and so the opening chapters have moments of tedium. Telford’s life outside engineering, despite his literary interests, seems one-dimensional and under-documented. Unlike John McAdam, who popularised tarmac, Telford relied on compressing layers of stones, claiming this method was superior and required less maintenance. The chapter on the building of the Holyhead road is especially interesting. ![]() Glover has done detailed research and any other author will struggle to improve on his life of Telford in terms of information. ![]()
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