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Showing posts from April, 2014

Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg

It was over two years ago, at the BIF-7 business conference in Providence, RI, when I had the opportunity to hear author Chris Van Allsburg speak. Like many in attendance, I knew of the author's celebrated Christmas story, The Polar Express , and I was curious to hear his talk. The subject turned out to hit closer to home than I expected, as Van Allsburg's talk was about his newest book, Queen of the Falls . This was a lovingly rendered picture book which told the story of Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. As Western New York native, I felt great appreciation to Van Allsburg for telling the story but surprise that Annie's story wasn't widely known. I was also excited to get the book and bring it home to my daughter, who had just turned four. Earlier this month, I finally read Queen of the Falls to my daughter. Though I was tempted to read it to her back in 2011 when I first brought it home, the language and sto