Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis
If Paris could mark the hundredth anniversary of the country’s revolution with a grand fair and the world’s tallest manmade structure, Eiffel’s astonishing iron tower, then the pressure was on for Chicago to outdo them with its 1893 fair celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the New World, and its own record-beating edifice. With time ticking, the best design came from engineer George Washington Gale Ferris “for a structure that would dazzle and move, not just stand still like the Eiffel Tower.” Davis’s picture-book account of the Ferris Wheel construction does a first-rate job of capturing the many risks—to civic pride, financial success, and public safety—that attached to the first iteration of what most readers have already enjoyed as a local carnival attraction. The story rolls along in an easy readaloud cadence, with technical and historical sidebars that can be savored immediately or saved for a revisit. There are a few glitches—the steel blue and mauve palette that dominates the stylized rendering of the fair makes it hard to pick out elements, and the fair’s actual name (The World’s Columbian Exposition) is never provided—but kids who favor thrill rides will begin to appreciate just how nervy their forebears were in climbing aboard Ferris’ contraption. Quote sources and bibliographies are included.
