On the Blue Comet - Hardcover

Trains and time travel spur one boy's thrilling adventure as he seek to rejoin his father in this new classic.

One day in a house at the end of Lucifer Street, on the Mississippi River side of Cairo, Illinois, eleven-year-old Oscar Ogilvee's life is changed forever. The Crash of 1929 has rippled across the country, and Oscar's dad must sell their home – with all their cherished model trains – and head west in search of work. Forced to move in with his humourless Aunt Carmen and his teasing cousin Willa Sue, Oscar is lonely and miserable – until he meets a mysterious drifter and witnesses a crime so stunning it catapults Oscar on an incredible journey from coast to coast, from one decade to another.

Rosemary Wells has written or illustrated more than sixty books for children and has received numerous awards. She is the creator of the beloved Max and Ruby stories; the co-author (of My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood, illustrated by Peter Ferguson; the author of Lincoln and His Boys, illustrated by P.J. Lynch; and the illustrator of My Very First Mother Goose.

Bagram Ibatoulline has illustrated many acclaimed books for children, including Thumbelina by Brian Alderson; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and Great Joy, both by Kate DiCamillo; The Animal Hedge by Paul Fleishchman; Hans Christian Andersen's The Tinderbox and The Nightingale, both retold by Stephen Mitchell and Hana in the Time of the Tulips by Deborah Noyes.