The Train Jumper Author:Don Brown "With my last strength, I threw myself onto the train. Only half of me made it. My head and chest slammed onto the rough wood floor while my legs dangled from the opening. I clawed the floor with my hands. Splinters stung my fingertips. For an instant, I saw myself dropping beneath the train. Saw myse... more »lf sliced in two."
Ed "Collie" Collier is desperate to keep his small family in tact. He leaves home in search of his older brother, who has run off. Collie jumps a freight train, joining thousands and thousands of young boys and men who try riding out the Great Depression by riding the rails.
In this action packed tale of a boy and a nation out of work and out of luck, Collie encounters hobos, misers, racists, and even some kindness. Battling hunger, hostility, and wrathful weather, he meets an unlikely ally in a young drifter. Together on kind of a quest, they match their wits and hearts against Hard Times.« less