As winter rapidly progresses, and the snow and bone chilling winds keep us confined to the indoors, we find ourselves with more reading time on our hands. Thanks to having met and chatted with a charming ten year old in our local Borders, who recommended I try a great train story, I have now been introduced to nine year old Oscar Ogilvie. Oscar lives in Cairo, Illinois with his dad during the days leading up to the 1929 stock market crash.
Things are still peaceful in Oscar's world and he and his dad enjoy passing their evenings playing with primo Lionel train sets. Their favorite and most prestigious addition is The Blue Comet, which Oscar received for his ninth birthday. When the stock market crashes and the financial depression sets in, Oscar's dad loses his job and the bank forecloses on Oscar's home. The trains are confiscated by the bank owner as well. Oscar is forced to move in with his Aunt Carmen and his dad travels to California to find work. Oscar is forced to worship his adoring trains from a distance. He sees them in the lobby of the local bank on a daily basis. Through meeting a down and out former teacher, Oscar is awarded an opportunity to visit and play with his trains after hours in the bank. It is during such a visit that Oscar is privy to a horrible crime and in order to save his life, dives into the train display traveling through time and taking a real ride on his beloved Blue Comet.
Young readers will enjoy the action of traveling across country in 1931. Oscar meets a variety of fictional and historical characters as he seeks to meet up with his dad and right some wrongs that occur in the story. ON THE BLUE COMET is a magical, suspenseful and fun book. It can currently be found at any of the chain bookstores, at amazon.com for $11.55 for hardcover, or if you're lucky enough to have an iPad, Kindle, iPod Touch or iPhone, it can be downloaded from amazon for $9.99.
