This book is beautiful. Details like: "As the Mississippi morning gets hotter and red dirt sticks to my feet, making them heavy..." make this book read like an old African American spiritual song. It is based on the true story of Casey Jones Train that ran by plantations where many African Americans worked in the south. The blow of his train whistle was the sound of freedom to many African American slaves and Casey's tragic death one night on the railroad sent tides of sorrow through the black communities. Casey, a big Irishman, worked side by side with a black man named Webb and this also added to the fuel of people's imaginations. This is a heartbreaking tale but also beautiful and full of hope.
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