It Goes Both Ways
Ferryboat, Betsy & Giulio Maestro
Look, man, leave me alone.
I’m just a grown man over here reviewing books written for three-year-olds. You got a problem with that?
I was made aware of Ferryboat by a CTMQ reader who often helps me fill out lists that can never be completely filled out. (In this case, it was my Connecticut Books list.) I like her very much so I immediately sought out and obtained the rather good little book.
Betsy Maestro is the author of book which is illustrated by her husband, Giulio. She has also written several other non-fiction picture books, including the Let’s-Read-And-Find-Out science books How Do Apples Grow? and Why Do Leaves Change Color? All classics I’m sure.
The Maestros live in Old Lyme and they’ve written this book about our very own little Chester-Hadlyme Ferry. The book describes a family’s ride across the Connecticut River on the venerable ferry, which has been in operation since just before the American Revolution.
Of course, not the actual ferryboat itself, but the ferry route anyway. Even though it began in 1769, it’s still not the oldest in Connecticut. That honor goes, of course, to the Glastonbury-Rocky Hill ferry up the river a ways.
Giulio’s illustrations are appealing and better than those in most children’s books. The ferry is described accurately and the kids in the book are all agog about a ride on it – which may sound silly but those of us who have taken little kids on the ferry, that really happens.
While the book didn’t suggest riding the ferry after a visit to Gillette’s Castle and before dining and shopping in Chester (which you all should do), it does offer a nice little historical blurb at the end for parents to school their punk child(ren). And I like that too.
CTMQ’s List and Reviews of Connecticut Books
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