Emma and the Silk Train

What an interesting book that is based on a true story of a silk train that derailed in 1927 along the Fraser River in Canada. Back then " Silk Trains" would speed through towns across the country to New York carrying bolts of finished silk, raw silk and even carried live silkworms. The silk trains moved very fast, they where insured by the hour and the faster they made it to New York, the shippers paid less money! Even today the speed records these trains made have still never been broken! And all trains, even a royals train was even delayed because the silk trains always came first. I enjoyed this book and it's story about a little girl named Emma who father worked on rail station and knew all about the silk trains. Emma's Mama had a made a silk blouse and with the scrapes left over Emma had a ribbon for her hair and 3 squares for her parchwork quilt and so began Emma's fasination of silk and wanting more silk possibly her own silk shirt. So, when a silk train derails and a reward is offered for any silk found. She does find some and I really like the ending of this story that is more than a fiction, it's history!

I found this book while doing some research on children's books, and it was a complete surprise. My grandmother is from the area discussed and used to watch the Silk Train when she was a little girl. She had only mentioned this recently, and my brother and I were interested enough to look on our own, but came up empty. I'm buying three copies, one for my brother, one for me and one for gran!