Impulse grab from the library as I was in the mood for some picture-books. I'd never heard of this woman, the first female to cross the USA by automobile. Fifty-nine days, with few real roads, no freeways of course, a top speed of 42 mph, the only bridge over the Platte a railroad bridge, etc. - I think that's great time given the conditions. I'm impressed by her courage & determination and imagine children now would be, too. My only complaints are that I'd like more facial expressions on the illustrations, and more back story about who Alice was & why she set herself this goal, to help the book come more alive. ( )

Another Don Brown gem. I love his biographies of less prominent historical figures. Alice Ramsey sounded like a tough, resilient woman with an iron will and a knack for resourcefulness. This is a great biographical snippet of her life recounting her first trip across the U.S. by automobile. Good details about the car, the trip, the obstacles, and the people who supported her. ( )

I'd never heard of Alice Ramsey until recently, so I was glad to be able to read about her cross-country driving adventure in this children's book! I admire Ramsey's sense of adventure and spunkiness; this book made me want to learn more about her and about her trip! I enjoyed the illustrations, too. ( )

I received three books by this author for Christmas from my Secret Santa at LibraryThing. Of the three, I think this is the weakest. Instead of focusing on Alice Ramsey's life, it covers only her first trip across the nation. I would rather have seen more information about her instead of just facts about the trip.

However, the trip is covered in a clear and factual way, and it is interesting in and of itself, even if it's not what I was expecting in a biography. It's bound to be interesting to anybody who wants a change from the normal Women's History lineup of Earheart and Curie and Helen Keller, or to any child particularly interested in cars... especially if they're girls and are getting the idea that it's *wrong* for girls to like cars, that that's a boy thing.

I worry that I'm judging it unfairly and comparing it to the other two books I have by this author, which are just so good, so I'll give it a full 4 stars and leave it at that. ( )

This book describes the difficulties faced in 1909 by the first woman to make a cross-country automobile journey from New York to San Francisco.