Tracks

In 1866, 13-year-old Malachy Gormley can't wait to travel west to Cisco, Calif., to join the Central Pacific Railroad Company in its race against the Union Pacific to complete the transcontinental railroad. When his father didn't return from the Civil War, Malachy became the sole provider for his mother and siblings in New York ("I was on my own. It was up to me and me alone to regain my feet and punch the world back"). Malachy works alongside mistreated, underpaid "Chinamen," observing their unfamiliar culture and developing an uneasy friendship with Chun Kwok Keung, a Chinese teenager who Malachy nicknames "Ducks." With an adopted bulldog and a blind but loyal horse, Malachy battles horrendous weather, miserly bosses, daily dangers, loneliness, and guilt about his family's struggles back home. Wilson's (Raven Speak) coming-of-age story plunges readers into the heart of Malachy's character and circumstances (of Irish heritage, Malachy, like the Chinese workers, is no stranger to prejudice). Readers will be drawn in by Wilson's eloquent and expressive writing as it details Malachy's emotional and physical struggles toward adulthood. Ages 10-14. (Apr.)

Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 6-9--Desperate to help his family in New York after the death of his father, Malachy Gormley goes to work for the Central Pacific Railroad as it attempts to join together with the Union Pacific. He works with other Irishmen alongside the "Celestials" as the Chinese workers are known. True to the 1860s, Malachy closely observes all the ways that the Chinese workers are different, and he is especially intrigued by "Duck," as he calls Chun Kwok Keung, another lad like himself. At 13, pretending to be 16, Malachy lacks any guidance. His bigotry is painful to read, as is his criminal conduct. He loves his dog, acquired on the streets of Sacramento, and a strong-willed horse that does the work of hauling the rails. It is his affection for animals that gives readers hope that Malachy will eventually see beyond the prejudices of the day. The hardships of labor and the weather are clearly delineated, and the vastly different responses of the Irish and the Chinese to the injustices are equally noted. Historical fiction with relevance to issues today, this novel is nonetheless firmly grounded in its own time and place.--Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"Diane Lee Wilson's TRACKS is powerful storytelling . . . TRACKS will serve double-duty as an exciting piece of historical fiction worthy of supplementing both the California history and United State history curricula. We meet a number of true-life historical characters. And that horse Blind Thomas (who might have been real — see the author's notes) is an absolute heartbreaker. But, most of all, we learn about an important underside of our history that cannot be done justice by some sterile textbook passage and that very much relates to how certain groups are perceived here in the twenty-first century."—Richie's Picks